Turn out the lights

- This party is over. The Avery era is over. The post-Nash/Finley era is over. It's time to strip this thing down.

- It's time to strip it down to Dirk, Bass, Terry, and Dampier. Avery gone. Howard gone. Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Devean George gone. Jason Kidd can stay as long as a new coach comes in.

- A core of Dirk, Bass, and Terry can be more successful than this current mix. The bench/role players have maxed out. Josh Howard has regressed so severely that I'm not even sure what you could get for him anymore. They need more youth, different basketball IQ's, and a new voice leading them.

- Get some youthful and hungry young players, get an athletic wing (trade Howard and trash and cash for Jason Richardson), an athletic big man (re-sign Diop), get Kidd a less Hitler-like coach, get Dirk healthy, get Bass 35 minutes a game, and insert Terry back into the starting lineup full time, and I think we can get back to watching good basketball.

- Josh Howard - 3-16, 6 points. 25% shooting for the series.

- If the game can ever be won in the 2nd quarter, it happened last night. The Mavericks are up 32-23, momentum is there, and New Orleans has its 2nd unit in the game.

- So what does Avery do? Reacting to Scott's substitutions for some reason (you're up 9 and are at home, why are you reacting to his moves?), he inserts Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, and JJ BAREA. Instead of laying the hammer down with CP3 and the rest of the starters out of the game, he inserts probably the least effective lineup of any playoff team ever. Within 3 minutes, the Hornets have the lead and the game is officially over.

- Just like in Game 1 when he put George, Stack, and JUWAN HOWARD in the game when Scott put in his 2nd unit. The game was officially over at that point as well.

- How many more times can a person out-coach himself, out-think himself, and just get dominated by the opposing coach? Byron Scott is not Red Auerbach, but he's sure looking like it this series.

- When you go into a series, your coach should be about #3 or #4 on the list of reasons why you will lose. Avery's coaching decisions consistently rank #1 or #2 on expert's lists on why Dallas will lose a series. He cannot be here anymore. That's unacceptable.

- He's had 4 seasons in the league. Opposing coaches have figured him out. And he's not good enough to win a chess match, adjustments-type game. The book is out on Avery.

- What a pitiful team this is. On a night where CP3 just looked like an average point guard, and the rest of the team looked pretty average, the Mavericks looked like a team that has mailed this season in. They looked like a beaten, get this damn thing over with type of team. I really do hate this team.

- Marc Stein's column says it all.

Mavs Fall In A Tough Hole

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

DALLAS -- Chris Paul required some extra in-game stretching to stay loose Sunday night, took most of the second quarter off and looked closer to mortal than he has for months.

None of which helped the Dallas Mavericks one iota.

The surging New Orleans Hornets didn't need Paul at his peak to deliver a Game 4 blow to the Mavs -- and Avery Johnson's tenure coaching them -- that looked and sounded unmistakably fatal. The Hornets erased Dallas' biggest lead with Paul on the bench, kept piling on from there and progressively drained away the Mavs' spirit, emptying the building earlier than any playoff game here in recent memory and ultimately cruising to a 97-84 triumph that will be recorded as the franchise's first win in this town since 1998.

"You want to see if hopefully you can take their life away," Hornets coach Byron Scott said, summarizing the message he plans to transmit to his players before Tuesday's Game 5 back home.

Honestly? It looks like they already have.

Judging by the clear-cut lack of swagger, bounce, intensity and belief coming from the Mavs -- all of which began to fritter away on this night when New Orleans uncorked a 15-2 run in the second quarter with Paul spectating -- you'd give Phoenix more of a chance to overturn its 3-1 deficit to mighty San Antonio faster than you'd suggest Dallas can come back from 3-1 down in this series.

Jason Kidd looked more out of sorts in Johnson's offense than ever before, managing just three points, three assists and four rebounds while attempting just six shots from the field. Josh Howard responded to the scrutiny his untimely comments about marijuana use have invited by trying to shoot his way out of it and hitting a new low by missing 15 of 18 attempts from the field. No surprise, then, that New Orleans responded by swarming Dirk Nowitzki throughout, trying to force the ball out of Nowitzki's hands by packing the paint and attacking him almost every time he dared to dribble. Although he still managed 22 points and 13 rebounds, Nowitzki's production and Jason Terry's 20 points weren't nearly enough to compensate for the struggles of Kidd and Howard and a bench that provided virtually nil.

Even Nowitzki was guilty of uncharacteristically missing three free throws … as well as an accidental slip into the past tense.

After Dallas absorbed its 11th loss in 14 playoff games since taking a 2-0 lead over Miami in the 2006 NBA Finals, Nowitzki said: "This sport is still about scoring points. And we just didn't have a great offensive series, I guess."

The series, of course, is not quite over. But the Mavs will need some benevolence from the league office just so Kidd -- whom Dallas chased so hard in Feburary because he "knows how to finish games," in Johnson's words -- can play in the expected finale.

He's facing a possible suspension after being ejected with 7:16 to play after a hard one-handed takedown of Jannero Pargo. It was a flagrant foul on a fast break, with New Orleans up 16, that would have been a lot uglier if not for Pargo's deft landing.

Pargo was heading for the floor headfirst when he managed to get his hands down to break the fall. The sight of the Hornets' bench spark plug bouncing back up quickly, however, doesn't change the fact that every Type 2 flagrant foul is automatically reviewed by the league office for additional penalties. Kidd denied later that it was a frustration foul, but it might regrettably wind up being the signature play of his 2008 postseason if he's forced to sit out Game 5, which would only add to the sense of doom rapidly enveloping the Mavs after they were widely picked to upset the No. 2 seed.

"The league is going to do what they do," Nowitzki said. "You never know what's going to happen with them anyway and what they're going to make up."

Said Paul: "I don't think there's [any] reason for him to be suspended for the next game."

The bad news there is that Paul might also be saying that the Hornets wouldn't mind seeing Kidd in Game 5, fond as he is of Kidd after their time together on Team USA.

You certainly can't hang the fact that Howard has become totally undependable (15-for-58 from the field for the series) on his coach. The Hornets likewise never imagined that Jerry Stackhouse's contribution would be so negligible … or that Johnson, getting nothing from his reserves apart from Brandon Bass, would gamble on playing little-used guard J.J. Barea and then pay the price during New Orleans' second-quarter burst without Paul.

Yet there have been whispers coming from the Hornets' camp, going back before the series even started, that they looked forward to playing Dallas because they were convinced that Kidd couldn't hurt them in his current role, given Johnson's penchant for slowing the game whenever it gets close and an offense not exactly known for ball or player movement, which so often turns Kidd into a weakside shooter.

And …

After backing off to let David West (24 points) carry the offense in the third quarter and finishing with a tame (for him) 16 points, eight assists and seven boards, Paul did say that the Hornets believed they could win this comfortably, even though he had never won a game at American Airlines Center in six previous tries.

Asked if the ease of the victory surprised him in any way, Paul said: "Not really, to tell you the truth."

He's only that confident with good reason. It would be an immeasurable surprise, after this dour display, if Dallas goes to Avery's hometown and finds a way to drag Paul back here for a Game 6.






- At least one team is playing inspired, clutch, and raising their game in the playoffs.

- Any questions as to why the Stars paid such a high price for Brad Richards should be answered by now. The guy is a gamer. He looked lost and out of sorts during those 20 or so game in the regular season. But he has found his way on this team, is comfortable, and is now kicking ass. In sports, you pay a premium for players who step up their games when it matters most. Regular seasons are nice, but legends are born when the lights shine the brightest. Richards is just as advertised.

- Wow did Sergei Zubov look good last night. That spinning, backhand assist on Modano's goal was just unreal. There's maybe a handful of defenseman in this league who can make that pass.

- Marty continues to play some of the best hockey of his career. He has continued his top-level play from last year's playoffs and has really locked it down this year.

- His passing and elimination of the opponent's dumping and chasing has really pushed his game to the next level. You can see teams getting frustrated when they try to dump it in and start an offensive attack, and there's Marty to grab the puck and shoot it back out quickly to one of his teammates. This is a part of his game that is so underrated and is something that no other goalie can do. He's like a 3rd defenseman back there with how he can pass and handle the puck.

- Mikey Modano has found the fountain. He's in a groove right now. He always loves playing San Jose, but he has raised his game. He looks as effective as he has in a while right now.

- Bottom line, the Stars are getting big time production from their money players. Richards, Ribeiro, Modano, Turco, Morrow, and Zubov.

- Like last round, the Stars sweep the 1st 2 road games of the series, and have a chance to come home and really shut the door on a team. Sure is fun to watch a team excel and raise their level of play in the playoffs.



Dallas Stars beat San Jose, 5-2, in Game 2


02:19 AM CDT on Monday, April 28, 2008
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News
mheika@dallasnews.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. – This is exactly why the Stars got Brad Richards.

The 27-year-old center simply has a way of making the big play at the biggest of times.

He did it again Sunday. With the Stars trailing San Jose in the third period, Richards came up with a goal and three assists, breaking a Stars playoff record and leading Dallas to a 5-2 victory in Game 2.

Richards scored the tying goal 32 seconds into the period when he converted a Joe Pavelski turnover into a beautiful wrister that beat Evgeni Nabokov on the stick side. He then added assists on goals by Mike Modano and Niklas Hagman, who scored twice, including an empty-netter.

"He just has a knack for making the right play at the right time," Modano said. "I mean, you look at the play he scored on, and Pavelski falls down. But when you get a play like that, it takes someone special to turn it into a goal. He's just done that his whole life.

The victory gives the Stars a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 second-round series that heads to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Dallas continued its trend of leaping on teams at the most opportune moments. The Stars have outscored opponents 16-5 in third periods during the playoffs.

"It's hard to explain," Richards said. "I know last game we didn't have a good third period, and we didn't want to repeat that. We didn't want to sit back when we got a lead. When you sit back, good things don't happen, so we really tried to push the pace."

Dallas was trailing 2-1 thanks to solid play from the Sharks. Pavelski made a deft redirection of a Craig Rivet pass on a first-period power-play goal, and then Milan Michalek split defensemen Trevor Daley and Sergei Zubov for a second-period breakaway. Those two goals were sandwiched around Mike Ribeiro's third goal of the playoffs, and they gave the Sharks and their rabid fans at HP Pavilion reason to get excited.

But Richards sapped that excitement in no time at all. With Hagman applying pressure on the forecheck, Pavelski had to make a hard cut to receive a pass and fell down. Richards grabbed the loose puck, took a couple of steps and whistled a hard wrister past Nabokov to tie the score.

"I probably should have waited longer, but I just wanted to get a shot off," Richards said.

The Stars were happy with that decision, and they rallied behind it. Steve Ott drew a holding call on Christian Ehrhoff minutes later, and Modano scored on the power play. Zubov, who was returning to play for the first time since Jan. 17, whipped a spinning, backhand pass from circle to circle to Modano, who picked the top corner for the 14th playoff game-winning goal of his career. Richards got the puck to Zubov on that play.

But the Stars weren't content to sit on that one-goal lead. Inspired by its newfound energy, the Richards line scored twice more. Richards carried the puck into the offensive zone, circled behind the net and fed out front to Hagman, who flipped in his first goal of the playoffs to give Dallas a 4-2 lead. Richards then fed Hagman for an empty-netter to finish the scoring.

It was a strong statement about a team that has struggled in third periods in playoffs past.

"Scary, eh?" Modano said with a raised eyebrow. "It's just a different team. We're really confident playing from behind. We're really confident playing in pressure situations. It's just who we are right now."