Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs10:14 PM CST on Saturday, March 18, 2006By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning NewsEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ? Dealing with adversity in the NBA is like handling rush-hour traffic. How you negotiate your way through the jam can affect your whole outlook on life, or at least the rest of the day.So far, the Mavericks are gleefully motoring along, hitting all the lights green on the side streets to happiness.They think they know why, too ? a refusal to compromise instilled from the top of the chain of command."The last few games, we won because of Avery [Johnson] and the coaching staff," says Adrian Griffin, one of the injured Mavericks. "He won't let us pout and have self-pity and all that stuff. Man, he just lights a fire."Most encouraging in the three-game winning streak they take into New Jersey today is that they have won all three without Devin Harris. Until this stretch, the Mavericks were 4-4 without their speedy backup point guard, upon whom they have learned to rely so much.In fact, the prevailing wisdom is that he probably is the third-most important player on the team. Maybe not third-best, but third-most important."We think he is," Johnson says. "You look at some of our losses ? Phoenix, the Spurs, Denver. We don't take anything away from those teams. But we think Devin really would have helped us in those games. I'm not saying we'd have won them all. But he's a very important piece, and that's why we're taking this approach that we're taking right now."That approach is that Harris will be given all the time he needs for his strained left thigh muscles to heal before the playoffs. If that means sitting him until mid-April, so be it. But the hope is that he can be back early next month.Owner Mark Cuban has noticed Harris' impact, and the team's best penetrator has a flair for making life easier for everybody else on the floor."Josh [Howard] is probably our second-best player," Cuban says. "Josh penetrates a lot, but he's more of a finisher. He's a scorer, where Devin looks to score and pass the ball off of penetration. And he's a good defender who is becoming a better defender. Not having him makes a huge difference."Briefly: The Mavericks had a light workout Saturday at a New York City athletic club. ... Keith Van Horn (left knee) and Griffin (hamstring) will not play today.E-mail esefko@dallasnews.comGETTING BYThe Mavericks' record and winning percentage when these players are out because of injurylayer Record Winning percentageMarquis Daniels 13-1 .929Keith Van Horn 14-2 .875Josh Howard 14-4 .778Jerry Stackhouse 19-7 .731Devin Harris 7-4 http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...fs.2c8ed1b.html
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs Yeah, even though I thought the Mavs would drop off a bit, with 4 injuries to 4 key players, even with our depth.But the fact that they haven't suffered at all, and only lost one game to the up and coming Kings, isn't all that bad.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs Well I think it will get hard for the Mavs to sustain that level and I expect a dropoff like the nets game today. Marshall is a cba player though he has surprised me some.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs Yeah, today they played alot like I thought they would when they lost all four guys...But the thing is, besides Dirk, noone played any good, and the Mavs still had a chance to keep it competitive with just a few minures to go and all the backups in.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs When Terry doesn't play well the mavs usually lose. Terry looked very unmotivated today. Walking up the ball and the pace of the offense was too slow.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>When Terry doesn't play well the mavs usually lose. Terry looked very unmotivated today. Walking up the ball and the pace of the offense was too slow.</div>Do you mean when he's not shooting well?All I know is, I'm worried to see Dirk getting major minutes down the stretch, he should be resting for playoffs. I don't care if we lose games for it, we've already clinched a spot. Time to just get healthy for playoffs. This is a luxury Spurs are having right now, they can rest Manu and Duncan a game with no setbacks.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs Yeah I totally agree with you. Avery is taking the regular season too seriously. He needs to make sure Dirk is rested along with Terry and Stackhouse. Those 3 look very flat right now.
Re: Injuries haven't slowed down Mavs I think they've played alot recently, but until the last 2 weeks or so, none of those guys had to play significant minutes...we didn't have that luxery in the past...We used to have Dirk, Nash and Finley plays so much all year that they are worn down by the playoffs...I think that since they didn't have too play him and terry so much all year, that they'll be fine.
