Frustrated Nowitzki Gets A Buzz Cut, Shave

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">DALLAS - Formerly floppy-haired Dirk Nowitzki showed up for his final interview of the season with a Mavericks hat covering a fresh buzz cut and a trimmed chin.

"I stayed at home [Wednesday]," Nowitzki said. "Disappointed, obviously frustrated, and I had to do something."

Nowitzki, who will play on the German national team this summer, said he believes the Mavericks changed their reputation when they changed their philosophy to be a tougher, defensive team.

He also said that the way the team lost four in a row to Miami could be remembered more than their 60-win regular season and second-round defeat of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.

"When you play great, you're the best, and when you struggle and lose, you're going to get hammered," Nowitzki said. "We all understand that and that was a little sad; that kind of throws a shadow over the whole season we had.

"Just getting [to the Finals] and winning 60 games, playing through injuries and all that stuff, we had a heck of a year, and we can be proud."

Terry a priority

Coach Avery Johnson said it is a priority to re-sign guard Jason Terry, who becomes a free agent July 1.

"Like I told him," Johnson said, "I'm going to do whatever's humanly possible to make sure we keep this thing going in the right direction."

Rim reflection

Jerry Stackhouse offered his reasoning for why the Mavs turned away from driving to the basket against Miami.

"You look back and see the jump shots that we missed, and you say that you want to try to attack, but the [Heat] picked up 15, 16 offensive fouls on us, so everybody was a little conscious of that, conscious of if you're not looking for a charge, then you've got Alonzo [Mourning] and Shaq there to block shots," Stackhouse said.

"You can always have hindsight, but for the most part, we like to say that we competed, we took the shots that we took all year, but it just wasn't in the cards for us."

Uncertain returns

Adrian Griffin and Keith Van Horn are free agents, and both expressed their desire to remain with the Mavs, but they said they can't be certain they'll return.

Marquis Daniels is under contract, but his up-and-down status with Avery Johnson has led to trade speculation.

"We'll talk about all that stuff in the off-season," Daniels said.

Daniels, hurt by injuries during the regular season, averaged 28.5 minutes a game, but he dropped to just 11.1 in the playoffs and less than eight minutes in the West Finals and NBA Finals.

When asked if he was happy with his role, Daniels said, "Yeah, I'm happy."</div>

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