"By me being able to come back myself and give them what I can give them while I'm out there, that's what I'm doing," the former All-Star told NBA.com. "I think they're feeding a lot off me. Sometimes it takes bumps in the road to figure out you're the X-factor. I've really realized this year by being in and out that I need to be out there no matter what."
"It's more of a team thing now," said Howard, his left eye bloodshot. "Us as players aren't focusing on what's going on in the front office or what's going on with coach. It's just us playing. That's the way it's got to be.
"We've been up and down all season trying to figure out rotations and stuff like that. No more worrying about why I'm not playing or why coach isn't speaking to me. We've got a job to do.'
Those are some pretty interesting Josh Howard quotes from Art Garcia's very good article at NBA.com. The last two games with Josh got me thinking - has there been any major quantifiable differences when the Mavs have Howard available?
I ran the numbers hoping to make some great revelation but remarkably found almost nothing.
| Record | % | OWN PPG | OPP PGG | STL | TOV | 3PA | REB% | PACE | OFF EFF | DEF EFF |
| 31-18 | .633 | 101.9 | 99.4 | 7.47 | 12.55 | 19.49 | 50.14% | 93.36 | 108.89 | 105.93 |
| Record | % | OWN PPG | OPP PGG | STL | TOV | 3PA | REB% | PACE | OFF EFF | DEF EFF |
| 16-13 | .552 | 102.3 | 101.3 | 7.07 | 12.07 | 20.62 | 50.25% | 93.67 | 108.50 | 106.60 |
Nothing there that makes your eyes pop, except for maybe the first two columns -- the only ones that count in the end.