Blah.
Duncan didn't play, Manu's good, Dirk missed a shot....
Just one of 82, right?
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Avery had some strong words for Devin after the game.
He really hasn’t played well over the last couple of games and he’s going to have to snap out of it and do something because right now I’m playing with one point guard with Jason Terry," Johnson said.
"Right now Jet’s the only guy that’s doing the job for us and Devin’s going to have to step it up and get back on track."
----------------------"Right now Jet’s the only guy that’s doing the job for us and Devin’s going to have to step it up and get back on track."
So Dirk only had 11 FGA last night. It's what I heard them talking about on the radio in my car this morning, Tas and Skeets talked about it on today's podcast, and a Spurs fan I work with started making fun of Dirk as soon as he saw me come in.
It really wasn't entirely his fault though. In third and fourth quarter there were many possessions where Dirk never even touched the ball. Instead, Dallas chose to feed the ball to Brandon Bass. It's why he had a career high 18 points -- on 7 of 12 shooting.
It was kind of weird, I thought. The results were there so I guess I can't complain, but the idea of Bass taking more shots than Dirk just doesn't seem right, and Marc Stein thinks Dirk has to start shooting more.
As a frequent Mavs observer, I'd say it's time for Johnson to rethink his equal-opportunity offense and start giving Nowitzki more touches. Keep trying to hold his minutes down, yes, but ask him to be even more involved than usual when he's out there. One obvious way to help Nowitzki shake this malaise is to force feed him out of it by calling more plays for him.
Just tell Dirk to shoot and he will, because he is struggling to find the balance of being smart or being aggressive so far this season.
"I just got to be more aggressive when it's there and swing it if it's not," Nowitzki said. "I'm just finding my way of finding when to shoot and be aggressive and when to swing it and make my teammates better. Hopefully, we as a team, and I will get better from month to month, so we'll be there at the end."
-------------------Avery will be wearing a mic tonight. Should be interesting.
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Injury Update: I'd bet that George steps on the court tonight.
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Mike fisher has some bloggy notes.
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This Day in Mavs History
1999 A judge in Chicago issued an arrest warrant for Leon Smith. Smith checked himself into a psychiatric ward in a Dallas hospital over the weekend. Smith's bond slip from 12/3/99 stated that he was not to leave the area, thus the arrest warrant for for leaving Chicago without permission.
1999 Suspended Leon Smith indefinitely.