<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> During the Mavericks' six-game winning streak that goes back on the line tonight against Charlotte, their leading scorer has not been Dirk Nowitzki. Neither has their leading 3-point shooter, field goal-percentage leader or best free throw shooter been their superstar forward. Blocks? Steals? Nope on both counts. It's enough to make you wonder if the Mavericks aren't finally reaching that diversity that Avery Johnson has been searching for since he took over as coach. Josh Howard is a primary reason Nowitzki hasn't had to shoulder such a heavy load of late. Howard is firmly establishing himself as the clear first lieutenant to Nowitzki. That doesn't mean Jason Terry's role has been diminished. It's just that Howard is making a case that he's an All-Star caliber player, and the Mavericks would seem deserving of a second All-Star given their success. Despite winning 60 games last season and going to the NBA Finals, the Mavericks sent only Nowitzki to the All-Star Game. Since the lockout season of 1998-99, when there was no All-Star Game, there have been nine teams win 60 games in a season. All of them had at least two All-Stars except last season's Mavericks and the 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs, who had Tim Duncan. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker evolved into All-Stars in following seasons. Josh Howard seems on the verge of doing the same. He's averaging a career-best 18.7 points. He's also posting 5.4 rebounds, 1.21 steals and 1.26 blocks per game. He's one of only six players in the league averaging at least 1.2 steals and blocks, joining Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, Chicago's Ben Wallace, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Phoenix's Shawn Marion and Atlanta's Josh Smith. All of those are former All-Stars, by the way, except for Smith. "He's like an All-Star," center DeSagana Diop said of Howard. "He's doing a lot of things for us. He always plays hard; that's what I like about him. But he's doing little things for us now, too." Whether he becomes an All-Star is irrelevant to Howard. But the fact that he is establishing himself as a reliable weapon is what Johnson likes to see. It's important that Howard has had only two games since returning from an ankle sprain 16 games ago in which he's scored fewer than 12 points. The clunkers are fewer and farther between for him. "J-Ho is steady," Johnson said. "Nothing he does surprises me. He knows what he's supposed to be every single night, and that's what he tries to do. There are four different things he needs to do every single night." </div> Source
