Dwain Price has some quotes from Avery Johnson about the teams inconsistency.
"We're not where we want to be," Johnson said. "We've gotten so many roller-coaster reactions with wins and losses.
"We're just kind of up and down right now. We're just trying to find that level of consistency where we kind of know what we're going to get night in and night out."
"We're just kind of up and down right now. We're just trying to find that level of consistency where we kind of know what we're going to get night in and night out."
Johnson said the Mavs' poor defensive performance has affected their offense, which is why they're strapped to that roller-coaster.
"Our defense is obviously a big part of what we built this team on," he said. "And at this point in the season we're just not getting the stops that we need to get."
--------------------"Our defense is obviously a big part of what we built this team on," he said. "And at this point in the season we're just not getting the stops that we need to get."
Injury Update: Jerry Stackhouse should be back on either Friday or Saturday night. Austin Croshere dressed last night and presumably was ready to go.
X-Rays were negative on Anthony Johnson's ankle and he is scheduled to have an MRI today. My uneducated guess is he misses 1-2 weeks.
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Avery Johnson praised Devean George's defense after the game.
"We do not win this game without George's defense," said Mavericks coach Avery Johnson, praising George and Josh Howard. "George and Josh were competing. They were out there; they were in the passing lanes."
The game could be a springboard to his development in Dallas. He was one of a handful of defenders thrown at Kobe Bryant.
"We've been doing a good job on tough scorers as a team," George said. "We haven't been sending one guy. We've been giving scorers different looks."
Avery used four different players on Kobe last night. In order of effectiveness: Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Devean George, Greg Buckner. The fact that Avery was using Devin as one of Kobe's primary defenders should tell you a lot. The fact that Harris did well at it should tell you even more."We've been doing a good job on tough scorers as a team," George said. "We haven't been sending one guy. We've been giving scorers different looks."
In last few weeks Devin has had the job of defending Vince Carter and Kobe Bryant. Neither player seemed to take advantage of the his size by posting him up. Kobe started using some post moves in the middle of the third quarter and I'm not sure he was on him the rest of the game. I've never heard Avery say it but I'm pretty sure he considers Devin Harris the best perimeter defender on the team.
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Jim Reeves writes about the Lakers with quotes for the Mavs.
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Garcia's game recap focuses on the standout performances of J-Ho, Dirk, and Terry.
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And in Chuck Carlton's game recap Dirk reveals he's happy to have Jason Terry handling the ball and scoring more.
"He has to realize what we need to him to do," Nowitzki said. "We need him to be aggressive offensively. Sometimes, it looks like he wants to get everybody involved but I think he's at his best when he's taking it to the basket and looking for his shot.
"That opens up a lot of things for me and Josh and everybody else. He's got to realize he's an offensive weapon for us."
"That opens up a lot of things for me and Josh and everybody else. He's got to realize he's an offensive weapon for us."