Avery Johnson liked the win last night.
"This is what I envisioned for this team: Can you have a 38-percent shooting night and still win?" coach Avery Johnson said. "How can you turn a bad shooting night into a win?
"This could very well be a playoff type of situation where teams are sitting on your plays and you're not at your best. But can you still find a way to win?"
--------------------"This could very well be a playoff type of situation where teams are sitting on your plays and you're not at your best. But can you still find a way to win?"
Art Garcia recaps the game and the final couple of plays.
But in the last 25 seconds, the Mavs trapped Marbury in the backcourt and his looping pass was stolen by Jason Terry. Terry made 1-of-2 foul shots, giving Marbury another shot. But with less than 5 seconds left, his driving runner was blocked by Josh Howard.
That pass by Marbury was absolutely awful, and here's what he had to say about it.
"He got kind of caught [deep] and that happens in the course of a game, especially when you're a rookie . . . Next time he'll know."
Blame it on the rookie. Nice.--------------------
Onto the Kevin Willis stuff. He's undergoing a physical today, and assuming he passes that, he'll be signed to a 10-day contract. Erick Dampier is excited to have Willis joining the team.
"It's an excellent big body to have," said Erick Dampier, who along with DeSagana Diop will play ahead of Willis. "He can definitely come in and give us quality minutes off the bench if we need them. If me and Gana get in foul trouble, he'll be an excellent guy to have off the bench. It's the best job in the world.
The plan is to play him a few minutes a game before the playoffs so that he's in good enough shape to play in an emergency during the playoffs. He's not stepping into the rotation.--------------------
Injury Update: Josh Howard looked good last night, but he said after the game that his ankle and groin were sore. First I'd read about the groin.
Avery Johnson has already seen enough from Devean George and decided he'll start playing on the second night of back-to-backs again.