MVN - Most Valuable Network

Serious trouble: Mavs lose to Spurs, and lose Dirk

This hasn’t been a good week for the Dallas Mavericks by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there’s very few scenarios I can think of that could be worse for a team currently seeded seventh in the Western Conference.

Going into a big-time Easter Sunday game against the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas was 0-7 against teams with winning records with Jason Kidd at point guard. As stated in Joe’s previous article a shouting match between Avery Johnson and owner Mark Cuban during the week was a public relations nightmare, and questions surrounding Coach Johnson’s ability to adjust to new players were evident among most fans. Cuban attempted to squelch rumors that he was unhappy with his head coach by wearing a t-shirt to the Spurs game reading “Avery’s team” (not exactly the most fashionable of choices)–but obviously, Cuban still has the final say. He could fire the coach or change personnel any time he likes.

I admit it’s probably not completely and totally fair to criticize Avery for the Mavericks’ 88-81 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, especially considering Dirk Nowitzki went down with a possible calf injury in the second quarter, one that could potentially keep him out of action for two weeks. However, I still can’t find it in my heart to forgive a guy that continues to give playing time to a struggling Devean George over an effective Antoine Wright, and a guy who continually makes bizarre coaching decisions late in games. Remember who it was throwing the inbound pass against the Lakers? That’s right: Josh Howard, not one of the league’s best passers in Jason Kidd. I still have faith in Avery, but after watching the team continue to struggle I admit my faith is wavering.

Of course, the issue now goes far beyond just one loss to a good Spurs team. Without the reigning MVP in the lineup, can the Mavericks stay the course long enough to make the post-season? It’s certainly not going to be easy, especially when you look at some of the games remaining on the schedule. There’s still two games to be played against Golden State, a road game against the Lakers, a road game against the Suns, a road game against the Nuggets, and then two home games against the Jazz and Hornets. When you add in a road game against Portland, there are 8 games remaining out of 12 against teams with winning records. If Dallas is going to make the playoffs, they’re going to have to win some of these games.

So what’s the key to the future? Obviously Jason Kidd will have to score more and Brandon Bass will become more of a fixture in the offense. However, I am willing to attach the entire fate of the Mavericks’ season to the performance of Josh Howard. If Howard plays like a superstar over the final few weeks of the regular season, we have a chance to make it into the playoffs and even get Dirk back from injury. Josh will have to carry the scoring load, and I’m talking about averaging somewhere between 22 and 25 points a game. I think he can do it, but he’ll have to do it with consistency.

The next few weeks will determine the fate for the Dallas Mavericks both now and in the future. The fate of certain players is on the line, as is possibly the fate of the head coach. I’m not willing to throw in the towel just yet, but there is definitely a need for serious concern in Big D. The Mavs will be tested like never before, and it will have to start Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers at 7:30.

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On another note, since there’s been a few questions thrown my way lately, I will state that I am in fact a contestant on CW’s “Beauty and the Geek.” I’m not really out to shamelessly self-promote, but I am on there under the moniker of “The Poet.” It airs Tuesday nights at 8:00 p.m. (7:00) central, which of course creates a problem for Mavericks fans this coming Tuesday. Therefore my advice is to watch me if you want but don’t let me deprive you of your basketball fix. You can watch full episodes of “BATG” on cwtv.com.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Showboating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.