Mavs game may be a preview

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Mavs game may be a preview

Team faces possible first-round opponent, can clinch top seed

01:55 AM CDT on Monday, April 9, 2007
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

If the Mavericks are bored with the waning days of the regular season or simply not playing their best, tonight should help redirect their attention back where it should be – squarely on the playoffs.

Mathematically, they could still end up playing a number of teams in the first round, but the Mavericks' most-likely opening opponent in the playoffs will be on the court at American Airlines Center tonight.

The Los Angeles Clippers are No. 8 in the Western Conference and the odds are growing longer by the day that either Denver or the Los Angeles Lakers will fall far enough to allow the Clippers to move up.

On the bottom end, only Golden State has a realistic chance to catch the Clippers.

So go ahead with the conspiracy theory about how letting the Clippers win tonight would help the Mavericks because it would make it that much tougher for the Warriors – and any spell Don Nelson might own over the Mavs – to reach the playoffs.

Del Harris has a few words for you. The basketball gods frown on that sort of thing, the assistant coach said recently.

"It can come back to bite you," he said.

Not that any self-respecting NBA team would try to manipulate fate, especially one that can wrap up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs with a win tonight.

As we've heard throughout this magical regular season, they just try to get better every game. And so, the Mavericks probably won't treat this one like a playoff dress rehearsal, but it could be a preview of the first round, at least.

Also, the chance to clinch the best record in the league cannot be dismissed. Doing it in front of the home fans would be a nice touch.

Neither the Mavericks nor the Clippers, however, will be showing much of their hand if they are future playoff foes.

The Mavericks may have Josh Howard back from a right ankle injury, but it's unlikely he will play lengthy minutes. Others may rest weary bones.

As for the Clippers, Sam Cassell is out for the regular season and it's a guess as to whether he'll be able to participate in the playoffs. Shaun Livingston, their other point guard, is down for the season.

No satisfaction: You can't fool NBA players when it comes to who's playing well and who isn't.

They know. They see it up close and know who's firing on all cylinders and who's in need of a tune-up or a complete overhaul.

Right now, the Mavericks aren't operating at their highest level. The loss at Denver on Friday offered a perfect example.

"That team [the Nuggets] has a good regular season win and they act like they won the championship out there," Jerry Stackhouse said of the celebration that was touched off after the 75-71 Denver win. "We know we can have nights like that, when we shot the ball terrible and we lost by four points. And if we make some of our normal baskets, we still have an opportunity to win.

"But we're still not playing the way we like to play. If we'd won that game, I don't think we'd have come in the locker room feeling good, because we did a lot of things that weren't so good."

Ager sighting: Fans probably can expect to see more of rookie Moe Ager and a few other of the Mavericks' deep reserves as the regular season winds down.

Avery Johnson said he would get some of his regulars time to rest some aches and pains once the Mavericks have clinched the home court throughout the playoffs. He started early on Saturday when Stackhouse sat. That opened the door for Ager to post season highs in points (eight) and minutes (25).

"We don't want to go crazy, but he did some pretty good things," Johnson said. "I've been looking for that fire, and I haven't really seen it in practice. But he got in there. I've told him, when I go to sleep at night, let me have something on my mind – good or bad – that you did that was aggressive. I thought he was aggressive."

Briefly: The Mavericks took Easter off, and with games every other day this week, it is unlikely they will have any rigorous practice sessions on their days off. They finish with six games in the last 10 days of the season. ... Josh Howard (right ankle) is listed as questionable for tonight's game.

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Spring break or bust for the Mavs

By Gil LeBreton
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, right, is a disciple of the Spurs' Gregg Popovich, who typically has had his team in top shape in the playoffs.

Food poisoning. Dirk's ankles. Josh Howard's ankle. Tired legs.

The Mavericks aren't exactly strutting into the playoffs, are they?

The immediate prize is still theirs for the taking. With a victory tonight over the Los Angeles Clippers at American Airlines Center, where the Mavericks have won 34 of 38 games, coach Avery Johnson's team can secure the No. 1 seeding in the Western Conference and all the spoils therein.

The home record looks like a misprint, but sources have confirmed it isn't.

The AAC isn't Reunion Arena, as most longtime Mavs fans will attest. The new place lacks the character (read: nacho stains on the green seats), the ambience (bitter beer odor) and the intimate feel of the team's original home.

But home is where you make it, and the Mavericks have learned to ride the shrill din and fluorescent glare of the AAC and turn it into the NBA's best in-house record.

First things first, however. Even the Little General, Johnson, who had the team on a six-month forced march, appears to be taking the prudent approach and resting his starters.

Nobody needed a night off as much as Jerry Stackhouse did Saturday night. While going 2-for-12 from the field Friday at Denver, Stackhouse didn't seem to have the legs or the will to drive to the basket.

He had plenty of company in the ugly 75-71 loss. Johnson seethed. But the team came back Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers, Avery dug deep into his bench, and the Devean Georges and Greg Buckners all responded.

That can't do anything but help with the long playoff grind ahead.

As guard Jason Terry said after the game, "We pride ourselves on being a deep team."

Dirk Nowitzki, bothered lately by food poisoning and his chronically sprained ankles, only had to log 26 minutes against the Trail Blazers. Howard, whose right ankle is sprained, was given the night off.

A 70-win season, granted, would have chiseled a deserving legacy for this team into the NBA record books. Johnson has marched the Mavericks down a road few teams have seen before.

But as Nowitzki said last week, "Seventy wins won't mean anything if we don't reach our ultimate goal."

The chance for 70 is gone now. If the Mavericks can dispatch the Clippers tonight and clinch the No. 1 seed, Johnson would be wise to declare the rest of the regular-season schedule spring break. Mavs gone wild, and all that.

The acknowledged Jedi Master of the gentle run-up to the playoffs has long been San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. Even when wounded by injuries, the Spurs always seem to know their pace.

You think the Phoenix Suns are looking forward to playing the Spurs, after Popovich has brought them to a good, rolling, second-round boil?

It's time for Avery, the Pop protégé, to apply some of those end-of-season lessons with the Mavs. In the final five games after tonight, Nowitzki, Howard, Terry and Stackhouse should play only their recommended adult daily allowances.

The NBA schedule-makers likely cackled with glee when they typed in "San Antonio at Dallas" for April 15. But if the Spurs know their playoff seeding by that day, as roundly expected, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Howard and Nowitzki should be nowhere near the hardwood after the first quarter. Let it become the Brent Barry-versus-Devin Harris show.

Down the stretch, Johnson has alluded to the compact NBA schedule being a reason for the Mavericks' tiring legs. Tired legs, the Nuggets game showed, usually translate to indifferent defense -- and a peeved Avery Johnson.

But he knows better. Those are real trainer's wrappings being rolled nightly around the ankles of Nowitzki and Howard. Stuff happens.

The so-called integrity of the NBA is said to mandate that the Mavericks put their best on the court against these final-week opponents, who are fighting for playoff spots.

Yeah, yeah, whatever. What's David Stern going to do -- fine owner Mark Cuban?

No, Nowitzki's "ultimate goal" is still the prize. There is no longer a 70-win carrot at the end of the stick, but this memorable team's legacy is secure.

If, that is, a healed and well-rested Mavericks team -- fresh from "spring break" -- goes on and wins the NBA title.

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Mavs will slide home with win

By JEFF CAPLAN
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- Phoenix wouldn't surrender its improbable pursuit of the Western Conference's No. 1 seed Sunday, so the Mavericks will try to end it tonight.

The Mavs, admittedly not playing their best recently, have built such a cushion that with six games remaining, one win will secure the NBA's best record, and most important, home-court advantage through every round of the playoffs.

"If you can use it to your advantage, it's great," coach Avery Johnson said. "For us to be in position to get it, especially being in the Western Conference, you can't discount that. You've got to be doing something right."

The Mavs have never earned the top seed in the West. They will tonight if they can defeat the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers at American Airlines Center, where the Mavs are 34-4.

"You definitely want to have it," guard Jason Terry said. "There's no team in the league I know that would say they'd rather give the other team home-court advantage. So we want to have it. Our record speaks for itself at home."

Johnson would like to wrap up things immediately. Four of the Mavs' final six opponents are fighting to make the playoffs or for critical positioning. Johnson would prefer to be able to control how much everyone plays and prepare for the playoffs on his terms, like a baseball manager who can set his pitching rotation.

The Mavs are on the downhill stretch of a draining month. Tonight's game is their 17th in 30 days. Through it, Greg Buckner and Devean George have worked back from injury just as Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki had ankle problems.

Howard missed Saturday's game against Portland. He said he hopes to play tonight. That will be Johnson's decision as he balances who to play -- Jerry Stackhouse sat out Saturday night -- and for how long against a team that is battling to keep the final playoff seed, which means, in all probability, a first-round meeting with the Mavs.

"We had to juggle last year and juggle this year, but juggle in a different way," Johnson said. "Believe me, other teams have far worse problems than we have. It's good problems to have."

The Clippers, winners of seven of 10 despite losing guards Shaun Livingston and Sam Cassell to injuries, are one game up on Golden State. The Mavs' opponent Friday, Utah, is battling Houston for the fourth seed and the home-court edge in that impending first-round matchup.

San Antonio visits AAC on Sunday. As of today, the Spurs can still catch Phoenix for the No. 2 seed and the home court in that potential second-round series.

And Don Nelson's up-tempo Warriors could still be fighting to end a 12-year playoff drought in the Mavs' next-to-last game April 17, .

"We are playing quality teams right now, but I think we'll figure it out when we need to," guard Devin Harris said. "Guys are trying to get healthy and get back to find their rhythm, but I don't think we've lost anything."