Nobody would be so bold as to say the Mavericks are back in the hunt in the Western Conference. That might even be borderline delusional considering their season. But 2½ weeks after Dirk Nowitzki went crashing to the American Airlines Center floor writhing in the pain of a high ankle sprain and strained knee, they’re far from the anticipated fall from grace into the lottery as so many anticipated.
You might even say the injury galvanized the team.
Taking it to another level, Nowitzki coming back after missing just four games and leading them to a 3-1 burst has shut everyone up about his lacking toughness and leadership. Playing on one leg, he’s averaged 22 points and 8.3 rebounds, and that includes an 11-point performance against Seattle in a game he was needed for only 26 minutes.
OK, they’ve slid out of the home-court race and are essentially locked into the seventh seed. Nonetheless, a lot of things have happened during these past eight games that have changed the Mavericks from a team that allegedly panicked by trading depth and youth for aging Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd.
Most important, they started beating good teams. Nowitzki surprised everyone by coming back on April 2 against the arch-nemesis Warriors and sparking a 25-point blowout. Two days later, they had the Lakers on the ropes in the Staples Center – primarily due to Nowitzki’s brilliant 27 points on 13-of-19 shooting – only to suffer a defensive collapse down the stretch in a tough four-point loss. Then they pulled an about face on Sunday at Phoenix, with Nowitzki scoring 32 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 105-98 win.
It’s been more than just him, though. During this 3-1 run (5-3 since the injury overall), coach Avery Johnson has been more inclined to let the team play – with Kidd at the helm – than micromanage as he so often does down the stretch of games. Johnson is so intense and strong-willed that it has often unsettled the team. Plus he hadn’t allowed Kidd to use his instincts to run the team – which is why they got him in the first place.
Over these past eight games, Kidd has averaged 12.3 points, 10.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds and 2.9 steals. An even better example of his growing confidence is his always erratic shooting, which has stabilized to 43 percent from the field and 83 percent from the free throw line (plus a stunning 50 percent (12-of-24) from 3-point range).
Also coming to life have been Josh Howard and Jason Terry. Howard averaged 30.8 points during the four games without Nowitzki and 26.9 during the eight-game stretch, while Terry has 22.5 points and 4.8 assists since Nowitzki’s return, shooting 57 percent from the field in the process. They’ve learned that third-year forward Brandon Bass is more than just a body to throw into the game, scoring in double-figures three times in the eight games and in the last two averaging 16 points on 67 percent shooting.
Now that they’ve gotten over the hump, it will get serious Thursday night with the Jazz coming in. It means a lot for both teams, considering the Jazz have lost 10 of their last 12 in the American Airlines Center and still have to prove they are a worthy road team going into the playoffs. This is another test for Kidd with only two wins against plus-.500 teams since he joined the Mavericks in February in what should be a super matchup against young point guard Deron Williams … who often looks remarkably like a young Kidd.
After that, the Mavs head to the Pacific Northwest against a battered Portland club and the pathetic Sonics again before finishing the regular season at home against the Hornets.
There are no guarantees at this point, although short of a complete collapse their two-game lead over the Nuggets and Warriors certainly appears secure considering the uneven play of those two teams. And it really doesn’t matter who they play in the first round. They’ll be just happy to be there and flying under the radar for a change.
It might even set the stage for a first-round upset, and wouldn’t that be a strange turn of events for this crew?
