It just can't be done

- Dallas just can't win in Detroit. The coaches have changed, the rosters have been changed, the years pass, the rules change, and Dallas just can't beat those guys in Joe Louis Arena. It's maddening.

- They outplay them for 55 minutes out of the 60. Get stellar play all around for 55 minutes. But like always, Detroit decides to dial it up for a stretch, start attacking like their asses are on fire, and all of a sudden they score 3 goals in 5 minutes, and it's church.

- Denver in pre-1997 Super Bowls. Dallas vs. Golden State. The Rangers vs. the Yankees. The Atlanta Braves in the playoffs. Tracy McGrady vs. the 1st Round. Dallas at Detroit. It just can't be done.

- Stars hold 3-1 lead, get blitzed for 3 goals in the blink of an eye, and lose 5-3. Pressure now intense to stay with San Jose and finish #1 in the Division.

Dallas Stars collapse in third to Detroit

04:30 AM CDT on Friday, March 14, 2008
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News
mheika@dallasnews.com

DETROIT – The house of horrors that is Joe Louis Arena continued for Marty Turco and the Stars on Thursday.

Turco allowed two goals in the first 1:01 of the third period, and the Dallas Stars blew a 3-1 lead and lost, 5-3, to the league-leading Red Wings.

It was a frustrating outcome for several reasons. One, the Stars have been outscored, 12-3, in the third periods of their last six games and have gone 2-4-0 in that span. Two, Dallas is in a slump and falling farther behind San Jose for the lead in the Pacific Division. And three, Turco fell to 2-10-5 against the Red Wings and is winless in Detroit at 0-7-2.

"It's more about the loss than anything else," Turco said. "We had the lead, and we didn't do the things we needed to do to keep it."

Turco had possibly the defining moment in the game when he allowed a 40-foot laser shot from Pavel Datsyuk to slip past him and tie the score at the :36 mark of the third period.
"It was not a good goal," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

But Turco wasn't alone in his struggles. Niklas Hagman and Mark Fistric combined on a coverage mistake that allowed Datsyuk to walk in alone on Turco for a goal at the 16:17 mark of the second period. And the entire team participated in a chaotic mess that ended in Stephane Robidas flipping the puck into his own net for what turned out to be the game-winner at the 1:01 mark of the third period.

"That's not the way we want to play," Robidas said. "You can't afford to do that in the playoffs."

Tippett said the score "flattered" the Stars, and that they really weren't playing that well when they took a 3-1 lead on goals by Trevor Daley, Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow. He said the top scoring line of Morrow-Mike Modano-Brad Richards had zero scoring chances at even strength and that the checking line of Loui Eriksson-Joel Lundqvist-Lehtinen was the team's best.

"There are puck battles that need to be won, and their top players beat our top players," Tippett said.

When asked if he was sick of losing in Detroit, Tippett responded, "Very sick of it."

"When you watch [Henrik] Zetterberg and Datsyuk go out there and dominate the game, that's frustrating," he added. "These guys are setting the bar for the Western Conference, so we better raise our bar. We better raise our bar, or we're in trouble."

The Stars (42-26-6) have used up the space they created with a 13-2-0 run last month and now are back in the thick of playoff positioning that could quickly move them to fifth place in the conference. What's more, they have nine games remaining in the regular season and appeared to fail a key test that had a playoff feel to it.

"We didn't pass, but I feel it's more the prep for the big test than the test itself," Turco said. "We have to step it up. That's defense, scoring and stopping pucks. That needs to be there at this time of year."

And what if the Stars can't raise the bar, Turco was asked.

"We're not going to win if it isn't there, and I personally plan on winning," he said. "We need to be firing on all cylinders and playing as perfect hockey as we can come playoff time, and tonight we were far off the mark."



- Things coming easier for Dirk.....



Lighter burden helps Dallas Mavericks' Nowitzki raise game

01:20 AM CDT on Friday, March 14, 2008

The pressure to lead the Mavericks has been Dirk Nowitzki's and his alone since Steve Nash headed to the desert to a few years ago.

It beat him down in the playoffs last year, leaving him a shell of the player who deserved to win the league's MVP award.

But it's no longer his burden to bear alone. It's shared by Jason Kidd and Avery Johnson.

Guess what?

That will make Dirk better. Much better.

It already has.

Look at the scintillating numbers he has posted since the Mavs acquired Kidd 11 games ago. He's averaging 28.1 points and 8.5 rebounds, while shooting 53.4 percent from the field and 58.0 on 3-point attempts.

And he's doing it with a smile on his face and joy in his heart. You simply can't underestimate the correlation between happiness and performance in professional sports.

There have been more fist pumps from Dirk in the last three weeks than in the last two years combined.

He no longer feels alone.

Now, he'd probably never admit that. It's not his style.

Still, it's pretty evident he no longer carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. These days the pressure to win a championship for this franchise, which has been involved in the two biggest collapses in team history the last two years, is evenly distributed among Dirk, Avery and Kidd.

That's a positive.

Last May, after the Mavs became the first No. 1 seed in NBA history to lose a best-of-7 series to a No.8 seed, I wrote the Mavs will never win a championship as long as Nowitzki is their best player.

I came to that conclusion because I didn't believe Nowitzki, as terrific as he is, is the kind of player who could put a team on his back, tell them before the game where he was going to take them and then make it happen on the court.

I still don't.

But it's OK, because the entire focus of the Mavs – win or lose – is no longer solely on him, and that will make him a better player. Though Nowitzki is still the Mavs' best player and one of the league's best, Kidd is a future Hall of Famer.

Kidd is the quarterback, so to speak. He's a guy who's expected to make just as many big plays in the fourth quarter as Nowitzki, and he'll have to answer just as many questions if the Mavs fall short of their lofty goals.

After all, Kidd is the guy Avery called a finisher at the veteran point guard's introductory news conference. Kidd is the player Johnson said understood how to impose his will on a game late in the fourth quarter when every possession is monumental.

More important, he's a star player who has earned numerous accolades and awards with a reputation for making clutch plays. All those attributes should make Nowitzki feel more at ease.

When the Mavericks enter the playoffs this season, Johnson will find himself under intense scrutiny for the first time as a head coach.

That's what happens when a team with championship aspirations has lost eight of 10 playoff games, while imploding in consecutive series. In each series loss, you could easily make the argument Johnson was outcoached first by Pat Riley and then by Don Nelson, so he will be under pressure to prove he's not the Tracy McGrady of coaches.

We all know Avery has been out of the first round, but you get the point. Lose in the first round this season, and Johnson will be labeled as a coach with great regular-season win totals who can't get it done in the playoffs.

He must also overcome the reputation as a control freak who can't even turn over control of his team to one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. All the little stunt he pulled in San Antonio did was reinforce the notion.

See, without the addition of Kidd and the numerous questions surrounding Johnson, Nowitzki would enter this postseason as the central figure in the Mavs' collapses each of the last two years.

Now he doesn't have to handle it alone. He won't be at the epicenter of the blame game.

Kidd and Johnson will share the burden, which will make Nowitzki a happier, more productive player when the playoffs start.



- More thought on Jason Kidd.



Dallas Mavericks' deal for Kidd comes with risk

Longtime NBA coaches weigh in with thoughts on trade


11:43 PM CDT on Thursday, March 13, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

A month ago, Jason Kidd was a Maverick.

Then he wasn't. And then he was again.

Seems like a long time ago now. But the fact is, it hasn't really been much time at all. As the point guard approaches his one month anniversary with his new team, the jury remains out on how this is fitting together.

And some of the most intriguing opinions are coming from outside the Mavericks organization.

The Mavericks made a franchise-altering decision when they made the trade, and those are never cut and dried. There is risk. And there will be criticism. The NBA's most experienced coaches know that.

"That's the decision you have to make," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said last week, when the Mavericks visited the Jazz. "If you want to go forward, sometimes you make a move to try it and it looks like a great thing to do, but you don't always know how that's going to work until you play some games. A lot of people tell you this is a great thing, but there's no guarantee."

Sloan is the longest-tenured coach in the league, with nearly 20 years leading the Jazz. And he has some experience with big trades from which to draw.

When he was playing with Chicago, the Bulls had a team many thought had a shot to win the NBA championship. But they felt they were one piece short.

So before the 1974-75 season, they traded Clifford Ray to Golden State for Nate Thurmond.

"Nate was the ideal guy for our team," Sloan said. "And on paper, you'd say Nate was a better player for our team at the time. And we ended up playing against Ray in the conference finals. Those things happen. They won the championship."

Not all trades turn out that way, though. And the Mavericks have some big backers for taking the gamble on Kidd.

One of those is San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who has been with the Spurs a dozen seasons, second in the league to Sloan.

Popovich, who has a close relationship with Dallas coach Avery Johnson, said the Mavericks have given themselves the best chance to improve because they acquired a player who has a lion's heart.

"I've always thought of Jason as a fearless point guard," Popovich said. "If he thinks something's there, he's going after it. And if he makes a mistake, he's great in that he doesn't care. All that matters is the very next play. He doesn't linger in the past. All he does is compete.

"He has the same juices flowing that Manu Ginobili has – very unique people. They would have been great warriors in the middle ages."

Or in the 2000s. At least, that's what the Mavericks hope.

The Mavericks are 7-5 with Kidd, going into tonight's home game against Indiana. The schedule gets nasty next week, but the three beasts coming up – the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston and San Antonio – all must visit American Airlines Center.

One thing Sloan stressed is that the Mavericks must show some patience with Kidd. Even though he's a veteran, bonding with a new team won't happen overnight.

"It takes awhile for a guy like that, because he's got to know who he's playing with," Sloan said. "He's able to find a guy where he needs the basketball instead of giving the basketball to him in places where he can't do anything with it. That's what those guys have the ability to do. They also know that, like John [Stockton] always used to say, you've got to know your customers, who you're throwing the ball to."




- Friggin punk. "What did I do?"