Mavericks still searching for winning formula

LOS ANGELES – The Dallas Mavericks made a few mistakes in losing to the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night, and the first was Josh Howard’s wardrobe selection. Next time he chooses to wear a custom-made shirt with “STUPID” emblazoned on back, someone needs to tell him he doesn’t have to play the part.
Howard’s coach also opened himself to some second-guessing. Avery Johnson used Jason Kidd’s playmaking skills in the post to run off 16 unanswered points in the second quarter then never really sent his point guard back to the block in the second half.
Then there’s Kidd himself. He made two three-pointers in the first half and aggressively drove to the basket on a few other occasions, but couldn’t find it within himself to take a single shot after halftime.
The Mavericks took a seven-point lead into the fourth quarter and watched it melt away into a 112-108 loss. Afterward, Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki stood in front of their lockers and talked about how close they had come to winning, a subject in which they are now well-versed. With both on the floor, Dallas has lost to the Lakers by four, two and four points; to the San Antonio Spurs by three and seven points; to the Utah Jazz by six; and to the Boston Celtics by two.
Add it up, and aren’t these the same old choking Mavs?
That’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another: Isn’t that reason in itself to fear these Mavericks?
The Mavericks have never fared well when having to shoulder expectations. They rolled to 67 victories last season only to famously flame out in the first round of the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors. A year earlier, they took a 2-0 lead against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals before collapsing.
When training camp opened in October, the Mavericks sold themselves as underdogs. Nowitzki sounded almost giddy that the team wouldn’t be considered a serious championship contender until proving its worth in the playoffs.
“Nothing we do in the regular season will matter,” he said then. “Even if we go 81-1.”
Nowitzki has since learned that the regular season does carry some importance. Like determining whether one qualifies for the postseason. Friday’s loss weakened Dallas’ grip on the No. 7 seed to a half-game over Denver and one game over ninth-place Golden State. Though the Mavericks essentially have a two-game lead over the Warriors because they own the head-to-head tiebreaker, even that is far from secure considering dates with Phoenix, Utah and New Orleans remain on the schedule.
“We have to make the playoffs first,” Nowitzki said, “to be the underdog in the playoffs.”
If the Mavericks do reach the playoffs there’s reason to think they’ll be better-suited for that role than the one of favored frontrunner. If anyone’s qualified to become the new Warriors, it should be the team that made them who they are.
The Mavericks wilted during their past two trips to the playoffs, and their coach only thickened the tension. As soon as Dallas lost its first two games in Miami during the Finals, Johnson moved the team to a hotel in Fort Lauderdale and made his players bunk together. Last season, he dumped the starting lineup that had helped win 67 games to go small against the Warriors. Both moves smelled like panic.
Johnson, who had to scrap for non-guaranteed contracts through the first half of his 16-year playing career, has always been better as an underdog. Scouts said he could only drive left, so he continued to beat his defenders left even though they knew he was coming. People told him he couldn’t shoot, so he buried the jump shot to clinch the San Antonio Spurs’ first championship in 1999. During his days with the Spurs, Johnson frequently chided reporters for writing too many “nice” stories about David Robinson because he wanted to keep Robinson hungry.
Johnson has sometimes taken the same approach with Nowitzki. More than anything, he has longed to see the Mavericks play with some desperation to them. That finally showed itself Wednesday when Nowitzki, playing on a severely sprained ankle, helped lead Dallas to a rousing victory over Golden State.
“I just like to see our team fight,” Johnsons said. “I hope it can get to be a real consistent deal.”
The Mavericks played with that same urgency on Friday, taking a 10-point lead into halftime. Nowitzki’s absence had forced Dallas to look for scoring from others, and Howard more than obliged, averaging 30.2 points over five games. Jason Terry also asserted himself more, and he continued to do so against the Lakers, scoring 25 points to Howard’s 23.
Johnson made one key tactical change while Nowitzki was sidelined last week: He allowed Kidd to post up smaller defenders – something Kidd frequently did in New Jersey. When Nowitzki took a break in the second quarter, Kidd posted Lakers point guard Jordan Farmar on three consecutive possessions and passed over him to open shooters. Dallas scored 16 unanswered points with Nowitzki on the bench.
Once the second half began, however, the Mavericks rarely posted Kidd, if at all. Kidd didn’t attempt a shot in the final two quarters and Johnson said after the game that he’s trying to get his point guard to look for his own scoring opportunities more aggressively. Said Kidd: “The last thing I think of is myself.”
That points to some level of disconnect between coach and point guard, though the gulf doesn’t appear as wide as it was last month.
“Avery’s a guy who likes to be hands on,” said Mavericks assistant coach Mario Elie. “Him and Jason are finally starting to get on the same page and understand each other. Those things take time.”
The Mavericks don’t have much time. With only a handful of games remaining, each mistake is magnified. Howard picked up a costly technical when he spiked his headband to the ground in anger after Lamar Odom drew a foul with about four minutes left. In a four-point game, that one extra free throw for the Lakers proved to be a big difference.
“I think we just lost our composure a little bit,” Nowitzki said.
Of more concern: Nowitzki said he doesn’t expect his left ankle to fully heal until after the season. He scored 27 points Friday, but was limited defensively, prompting Lakers coach Phil Jackson to attack him repeatedly with Odom. Even when the Mavericks went to a zone defense, Odom, who made 12 of 14 shots for a season-high 31 points, still found ways to go at Nowitzki.
“I didn’t have great lateral movement before,” Nowitzki deadpanned. “Now it’s definitely all gone.”
So, these are tough times for the Mavericks. But they’re also tough for nearly everyone else in the West. The Lakers have their own injury concerns and still haven’t shored up their defense. The Spurs, who have labored for scoring much of the season, managed only 64 points in Friday’s loss to Utah, matching their fewest ever.
As it stands now, Dallas is in line to face either the Lakers or Spurs in the first round. The Mavericks wouldn’t be favored to win either series.
Maybe that’s exactly what they need.

By Johnny Ludden, Yahoo! Sports