Game 1

- Great power play. Shutout by Turco. Huge win in game 1 against the defending champs.

- The Stars made the self-proclaimed toughest team in the league pay for their ignorance. Anaheim is really just a bunch of arrogant goons. One of the dirtiest teams in the league. Late hits, bad penalties, after the whistle antics. And the Stars nailed them for it.

- Stars shut them out, look for the road sweep Saturday night.

Dallas Stars dominate Ducks in Game 1, 4-0

04:14 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News
mheika@dallasnews.com

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Dallas Stars may have surprised even themselves Thursday night by playing a game that has been missing for almost a month and shutting down the defending Stanley Cup champions on their home ice in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.

Not only did Dallas put together the kind of team effort that was a hallmark of this squad earlier in the season, it laid a huge amount of doubt onto the table for the Anaheim Ducks and their fans.

The Stars went 4-for-7 on the power play and took a 4-0 victory against a team that touted the best home record in the NHL. It also set up a big challenge for the Ducks, who must rebound in Game 2 on Saturday or face the prospect of going down 2-0 in the series with Game 3 and Game 4 in Dallas next week.

"It’s a good start, but we can’t get too high," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We need to get some rest and then get ramped up again. You have to respond because you know they’re going to answer the bell."

"We couldn't have drawn it up any better," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow, who scored the final goal. "We stayed smart. We stayed disciplined. And we took advantage on the power play."

The power play had been in a slump, but it was missing Mike Ribeiro, Jere Lehtinen and Brad Richards, who each have been battling soreness and illness. The Stars got their roster back intact (minus Sergei Zubov) Thursday and seemed to have a ton of energy. That allowed Stars coach Dave Tippett to put Morrow with Ribeiro and Lehtinen, and put Richards with Loui Eriksson and Joel Lundqvist. The Ribeiro line continued to be the top scoring line for the Stars, as Morrow had a goal and two assists, Lehtinen scored a goal and had an assist, and Ribeiro earned two assists.

The Stars ran the majority of the power play with Modano and Stephane Robidas, and they made the Ducks pay for their mistakes.

"There were a lot of things that weren’t as good as they should have been,’’ said Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer. "We did take some bad penalties, but they seemed to find a way to score at will."

Steve Ott tipped a Robidas shot for the first goal. Eriksson was wide open on the second. Lehtinen and Morrow found space in the slot for the last two, thanks in large part to Ribeiro’s smart play. But when the Stars weren’t on the power play, they had to make smart plays, as well. Rookie Matt Niskanen drew the first penalty, Trevor Daley the second, Philippe Boucher the third, and Mattias Norstrom the fourth. The Stars defense did the right thing in a lot of different situations while playing under heavy pressure.

Marty Turco finished with 23 saves and recorded his fourth career playoff shutout – the fourth in his last seven playoff games.

"I don’t want to single any part of it out, because I thought Turco had some great saves, I thought our defense did a great job in front of the net, and I thought our forwards did a great job in defending," Tippett said.

Mix in strong playoff debuts for Niskanen (22:07 in ice time) and Niklas Grossman (15:39), and you have an impressive performance down the line.

"What was great about this win is that we did it as a team," Robidas said. "Honestly, we used everybody. Everybody was important in this game. When we do that, that's when we really are a good team."

That team feeling was important, especially with the team’s playoff history. The Stars had lost five straight Game 1s with Tippett as their coach and Turco in goal. They were 1-4 in those series. To put the pressure on the opposition was definitely a nice change.

"I can’t remember the last time we won a Game 1," Morrow said. "It was huge."

That said, it was just one game, players reminded.

"We have to be ready for Saturday, because we know they’re going to be ready, and we know it’s going to be twice as hard as tonight was,’’ Boucher said. "And tonight was not easy."

It just looked that way.





- I don't even know what to say anymore. I'm not sure what else I can write about Dirk.



Dirk's dagger gets Dallas Mavericks in playoffs

04:32 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

The playoffs became more than a rumor Thursday night for the Mavericks.

And the Mavericks became much more than an afterthought for anybody gauging their chances in the postseason.

In one of the most entertaining games of this or any regular season, the Mavericks made the last of many huge plays – Dirk Nowitzki's 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left – to outlast the Utah Jazz, 97-94, at American Airlines Center.

The win, coupled with Denver's win at Golden State, clinched a playoff berth for the Mavericks.

The way they won it clinched far more than a spot in the bracket. The Jazz had won four in a row, including the last two against San Antonio and New Orleans, who managed an average of 65 points against the Jazz.

The Mavs passed that by the end of the third quarter. Then, they bowed up to make some gutsy plays down the stretch for their third win in a row and fifth in six games.

"Out of all the games when we started this run, this is one game I really was keeping my eyes on and seeing how far we've come in the physicality department," coach Avery Johnson said. "If we'd have lost this game, obviously, I wouldn't have felt great. But I thought we battled."

The Mavericks, who reached 50 wins for the eighth straight season, had made a season out of losing games just like this. They now have pulled a couple of them out in the last week and their attitude heading toward the playoffs is as positive as it's been all season.

The last, frantic minute made the difference. The lead had flip-flopped 10 times in the fourth quarter alone. The Mavs went up 94-91 on two Jason Terry free throws with 9.4 seconds to go. Terry had 21 points, all after halftime.

But Utah's Deron Williams banked in a 3-pointer with 5.8 ticks left to tie the score.

The Mavericks had no timeouts left and it was a good thing. They inbounded quickly, with Jason Kidd shoveling the ball to Eddie Jones, who found Nowitzki on the left wing, just outside the arc. His 3-pointer made it eight points in the final 9.4 seconds and delivered the Mavericks an emotional, gut-checking win.

"No lead in this league is comfortable anymore, and we know Utah keeps on playing," Nowitzki said. "Over the last three or four weeks, we lost those close games. We were able to pull it out."

They did so without Josh Howard for most of the second half. He played just three minutes after halftime after bruising his right knee, aggravating an injury he suffered Sunday in Phoenix. Howard said he doesn't think the injury is serious.

It was a heartbreaker for Utah, which reacted after Williams' 3-pointer like it was expecting the Mavericks to call a timeout.

"I think it was the excitement of, 'Wow, that shot just banked in,'" said Kyle Korver, who found himself trying to guard two Mavericks in the quick trip downcourt. "We just didn't get back, and he hit a big, big shot."

Nowitzki finished with 32 points. But he got loads of help from Jones, Eddie George and Brandon Bass, all of whom played key roles off the bench.

"We wanted to get progressively better," Johnson said of the Mavericks finally nailing down a playoff spot. "We had a major setback in terms of trying to get our team together once we made this trade, and now we seem to have it moving in the right direction."




- Doubleheader sweep??? Great starting pitching? Great bullpen work?? Over .500 for the first time since 2006?



Win-win situation: Texas Rangers above .500 after DH sweep

12:57 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008
By TODD WILLS / The Dallas Morning News
twills@dallasnews.com

ARLINGTON – The Rangers are over .500 for the first time in the Ron Washington era.

But that was the last thing the second-year manager wanted to talk about after the Rangers swept Thursday's doubleheader from Baltimore, previously the hottest team in the American League.

The topics of interest to Washington after the 3-1 and 5-4 victories were the Rangers' surprising starting pitching, timely and aggressive hitting and the bookend saves by first-year closer C.J. Wilson.

To Washington, those were a much bigger deal than improving to 5-4, even if it's the first time the Rangers have been above .500 since Sept, 23, 2006, when they were 78-77.

"We've played only nine ballgames," Washington said. "We're playing very well. Ask me when we're 15 or 20 games over .500, then yeah, maybe I'll be excited about it."

Washington had plenty to be excited about Thursday. Some of the highlights:

•The starting pitching continues to shine. Kevin Millwood and Kason Gabbard combined to allow four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings. That gives the Rangers' rotation a 2.88 ERA entering today's series against Toronto.

Millwood has been the staff's ringleader, even if his win Thursday was only his first in three starts. He left with a 1.29 ERA.

The Rangers gave Millwood a five-year contract to be the leader of the pitching staff, and in his third season, he may be doing just that.

"My whole deal was to get off to a good start," Millwood said. "I think I've done that."

•The offense finally produced in the clutch after sleeping through Tuesday's home opener, an 8-1 loss. It took awhile Thursday, as the Rangers were hitless in their first six chances with runners in scoring position in Game 1.

"Up until the seventh, there wasn't much we could do," Washington said.

Ian Kinsler had a one-out single and stole second on his own. He scored the go-ahead run on Michael Young's line drive to center.

Young was then given the green light from Washington. He stole second and scored on an aggressive decision by third-base coach Matt Walbeck on Josh Hamilton's shallow fly ball to right field.

Young and Kinsler had the key hits in Game 2. Young had a home run to get the offense going in the first inning, and Kinsler snapped a 4-4 tie in Game 2 with a run-scoring single.

Wilson retired all six batters he faced in the two games. He was so effective in the first game, throwing 10 pitches, that he was available to come back in the second.

Wilson credited Joaquin Benoit and Jamey Wright, who produced quality efforts in front of him.

"It helps when guys are setting you up," Wilson said.

Building his legacy

- Dirk continues to lead, inspire, put this team on his back, and build his Dallas sports legacy. What he's doing can't be discounted. Not only is he out there playing hurt, he's producing and continuing to be the go-to guy that this team has to have.

- This team is a collection of average talent surrounded by a superstar. So for Dirk to come back and just be a spot up shooter and "just a guy," wouldn't help in the least.

- Some actual tangible good coaching moves by Avery yesterday. Putting Dirk on Raja Bell to save him for offense (basically the Bruce Bowen move when they play San Antonio). Putting Devean George on Amare. Sticking with Brandon Bass and Dampier for major minutes. Game by game, letting the reins loose on Kidd.

- What a win. Holding that offense to 9 points in the 4th. Holding Nash to 4-17 shooting, 0-6 in the 4th. And showing some sack on the road, late in the year, in a must win game, and winning that bastard.

No Time For Pain, So Dirk And Mavs Gain

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

PHOENIX -- Dirk Nowitzki stumbled about 18 times by his own count as he drove left, gathered himself with one crucial step to rattle in a fall-away baseline dagger out of nobody's textbook, then showed us his truly unorthodox move.

Nowitzki didn't pop his jersey in celebration. He tugged it from the bottom.

Instead of grabbing it at the top to puff out the DALLAS on his chest, like Kobe Bryant and everyone else does, Nowitzki commemorated the biggest basket of the Mavericks' season by pulling tightly on his shirttail, trying for the same effect.

"I was too hyped up," Nowitzki said later with a laugh, "to even know what I was doing."

You could forgive Nowitzki for that one misstep and understand his emotional overspill Sunday, when he continued to dazzle playing basically on one leg. In only his third game back from a high ankle sprain that typically sidelines athletes in all sports from three to six weeks -- and which shelved the NBA's reigning MVP for only nine days -- Nowitzki had 32 points and 12 boards in 38 stubborn minutes.

The big difference for the visitors on this given Sunday: Dallas supplemented Nowitzki's show with its best all-around fourth quarter in forever, holding the uncharacteristically sleepy Phoenix Suns to a season-low nine points in the period to surge back from a double-digit deficit and claim a crucial 105-98 victory at US Airways Center.

The win didn't officially clinch anything for the Mavs, but the joy and obvious relief on their bench at the end suggested otherwise. It's the Mavs' first win over a team that is definitely playoff-bound since reacquiring Jason Kidd -- Wednesday's victims from Golden State, remember, are not in the West's top eight at the minute -- and almost certainly separates Dallas from the Nuggets and Warriors in the race for the final two playoff spots.

Especially with Denver capping a disastrous weekend by stunningly losing in double overtime at Seattle late Sunday.

"It meant more to them," Suns guard Steve Nash said of the Mavericks, "and they showed it."

It meant more to the Mavs because of their 1-11 record against winning teams with Kidd coming in. Nash's old team looked headed for 1-12, too, when some active switching, dominant board work (18-7 in the fourth quarter) and pesky hands on D combined with an inexplicable meltdown of the Suns' vaunted O to turn a 91-78 deficit into a 94-91 lead.

The Mavs didn't exactly flow freely on offense down the stretch, as has been their custom in recent weeks. Coach Avery Johnson's natural instinct to slow the game down when it gets tight, combined with occasional hesitation from Kidd running a new team, has seen Dallas' ball and player movement shut down in numerous crunch times lately. Yet compared to Phoenix, Dallas was running a virtual layup line in this fourth quarter with eight baskets and 13 trips to the line, while the befuddled hosts went nearly eight minutes without a point.

Nowitzki wound up outscoring the Suns by himself in the fourth, 12-9, with no more Shawn Marion to chase him around and Phoenix finding no suitable replacement in the teams' first meeting since they swung their blockbusters. Dirk's old pal Nash, meanwhile, missed all six of his shots in the quarter to somehow finish 4-for-17 from the field, with Kidd shadowing him well throughout and Nash unable to cash in on a few open looks he did get.

All of that added up to a comeback which served another purpose for the desperate Mavs, highlighting two important areas where they have shown improvement since the Kidd trade in spite of what the standings say.

No. 1: For all the fretting about what the losses of Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop would do to the Mavs defensively, they've actually had more consistency problems offensively, putting up some top-quality resistance against Boston, San Antonio and now Phoenix. "We've been doing this -- playing pretty good defense -- for a while now," Kidd said after totaling eight points, seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and, yes, four blocks. ("They were all below-the-belt blocks," Kidd joked.)

No. 2: Nowitzki is playing with emotion and a swagger that, until Kidd's Feb. 19 arrival, you hadn't seen since last season. Having a player of Kidd's stature to help him for really the first time since Nash's free-agent return to Phoenix in the summer of 2004 has clearly pumped Nowitzki with fresh hope and energy.

That's in spite of the Mavs' recent slump and an injury that still bugs him plenty. For all of Nowitzki's well-chronicled healing powers after numerous ankle sprains in his 10 seasons, Johnson estimates that his franchise player has regained only 60 to 75 percent of his mobility.

"It's not necessarily that Dirk is a fast healer," said Mavs athletic trainer Casey Smith, who doubles as a member of the Team USA training staff.

"He's back playing so fast because he does everything possible to return as quickly as possible and because he is by far one of the toughest players I've ever worked with. Everyone thinks that once he's back on the court that he's healed up, but in reality he usually deals with his injuries for days or even weeks after returning."

Yet it's a reality Nowitzki can block out after a win like this, coupled with the crushing loss Denver suffered in Seattle. The Mavs have seen just enough in the past week -- including a surge back to prominence from Josh Howard (24 points) and some more flashes from Brandon Bass (19 in 24 minutes after earning just 12 seconds of PT in Friday's loss to the Lakers) -- to think that they can rebound from that 0-10 start against winning teams with Kidd to be a dangerous first-round foe for New Orleans, San Antonio or L.A.

After all . . .

Owner Mark Cuban has been reminding folks for days now: Houston finished 17-18 in the 1994-95 season after acquiring Clyde Drexler at midseason and still went on to win the championship. Another pertinent bit of history along those lines that the Mavs know all too well: Shaquille O'Neal's Miami Heat went a humbling 2-12 against division leaders in the 2005-06 season and wound up overturning Dallas' 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals to win it all.

Could this have been one of those nationally televised Sundays that turns around someone's season, like Phoenix did on March 9 with a come-from-behind home win over the defending champs from San Antonio?

"It can't do anything but help," Johnson said.

Nowitzki took it a step further on his one leg, suggesting that having so much at stake in early April could ultimately prepare Dallas better for the playoffs than last season's 67-win romp did.

"In some ways, I like this better," Nowitzki said. "We didn't play a meaningful game after March last year."




- From the Arizona paper.

Suns go cold vs. Mavs

Paul Coro - Apr. 6, 2008 03:22 PM
The Arizona Republic

The Suns entered the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against Dallas needing only to score 20 points to become the NBA's top offense.

Instead, Phoenix blew a 13-point lead by looking like the worst offense around. The Suns went scoreless for nearly eight minutes in the fourth and Steve Nash missed his final seven shots in a 105-98 loss to Dallas at US Airways Center.

The team that had averaged 114.8 points to win 11 of its previous 14 games and had efficiently scored 89 points in Sunday's first three quarters disappeared.

After a Shaquille O'Neal turnaround opened the fourth quarter for a 91-78 lead, the Suns spent the next 7:51 with the sort of offensive helplessness that made Miami look potent. Phoenix missed 12 shots as the Mavericks' 16-0 run sent them to a win, making them 2-11 against winning teams since adding Jason Kidd.

The Suns still cinched a playoff spot with Golden State's and Denver's losses on Sunday but fell to sixth place in the West, three games ahead of Dallas, which now is firmly in the seventh spot. A Pacific Division title appears unlikely with Phoenix trailing the Lakers by two games with five games to play and Los Angeles holding the tiebreaker.

"Everything was going well for three quarters and their backs were really against the wall, so psychologically we were at two different places, and they played like it," Nash said. "It meant more to them, and they showed it."

Phoenix's seven-game home win streak ended with a 27-9 fourth quarter in which the Suns scored two more than the club's worst fourth quarter ever. In that 7:51, the Suns showed unfortunate balance, with six players missing and misfires coming from all over the floor. This came after shooting 50 percent with seven turnovers in the first three quarters.

"It's kind of like when you have a sugar high and crash," Suns forward Grant Hill said.

The Suns still had time to rally but did not score off two late Dallas turnovers. Then saw Dirk Nowitzki cap a 32-point game by scoring twice in the final minute after Phoenix had cut the lead to four.

"The momentum changed," said Stoudemire, who scored 31 points. "We couldn't warm back into it. They kept their guys in that got hot, and it was hard to slow them down."The difference in aggression was shown with the Suns not drawing a foul until the fourth quarter's seventh minute. By then, Dallas was in the penalty and scored 11 fourth-quarter points on free throws.

"The good thing is with Phoenix, you can be up 14 or down 14 and you're always in the game," Nowitzki said. "They play a fast-paced style and we play a fast-paced style so you're never really out of the game."

Until losing the lead with 5:15 to go in the game, the Suns had held the lead for 19 consecutive minutes after Boris Diaw's 12-point second quarter put the Suns in front.




- A 3-3 roadtrip with great starting pitching?



Texas Rangers end West swing with 10-4 win


08:05 PM CDT on Sunday, April 6, 2008
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Their record suggests the Rangers just treaded water on their season-opening West Coast swing.

Records can be deceiving.

On the way to splitting a six-game trip to Seattle and Los Angeles – topped off by Sunday's 10-4 win over the Angels – the Rangers fought the perceived contenders in the AL West to a draw while battling a flu epidemic that threatened to overrun the clubhouse.

But that's not all they accomplished. During the 3-3 trip, the Rangers showed signs of having a legitimate reliable starting rotation; they showed far more ability to overcome adversity (mainly errors); they showed an ability to play the kind of pass-the-baton game manager Ron Washington so desperately wants them to grasp; and the most second-guessed members of the opening-day lineup showed maybe they do belong after all.

Those guys – catcher Gerald Laird and first baseman Ben Broussard – combined for three homers and eight RBIs Sunday. Laird had two of the homers and a career-high six RBIs playing in his hometown. Broussard's homer was his third in the last four days.

Hey, did we mention the starting pitching?

"I think regardless of the record, we're happy with the way we're playing," shortstop Michael Young said. "We are playing as a team. We like where we are as a team right now."

A few examples of why Young felt so good, even though he's still coughing as an aftereffect from the flu:

•The starting rotation: Vicente Padilla gave the Rangers their fifth quality start in six games this season. The rotation, which pitched the fewest innings in the AL last year, is averaging almost 6 2/3 innings per outing for the young season. The rotation returns for the home opener with a 2.30 ERA and it has its first complete game since Aug. 29, 2006.

Padilla pitched seven solid innings Sunday even though he said he'd been battling the flu the last couple of days, too. Afterward, Padilla talked about the rotation as a whole rather than just his performance.

"Everybody was patting each other on the back," he said through a translator. "I think it's important that all the starters are doing the job and that we're all talking to each other and helping each other. We need to keep doing that."

When Washington went to him after the sixth, Padilla, with 93 pitches under his belt, said he wanted to go one more.

"First time," Washington acknowledged. "Last year, he didn't say much."

•Team play: The Rangers had perfect attendance at a team dinner last Sunday on the eve of the season, which was not overlooked by the club's veterans, who took it as a sign more players were on the same page.

Besides the flu, they overcame their own errors. They won twice despite committing multiple errors. Last year, they lost seven of their first eight multi-error games and didn't win their second until Mother's Day.

And one other example of the new team-first attitude: Given a choice of taking either Saturday or Sunday off, Laird chose to play Sunday. He was 0-for-8 against Saturday starter Jered Weaver and 1-for-6 against Sunday's starter Jon Garland.

That, he said, had nothing to do with it.

"I just wanted to work with Padilla," he said. "I feel like if we can get on the same page and get something going, we can really get on a roll."

•The road: Last year, the Rangers had the worst road-winning percentage in the majors (.346). Had they finished above .500 at 41-40 on the road last year, they would have ended up with 88 wins. By taking two of three from the Angels, the Rangers won a road series in just their second try of the season. Last year, they didn't win a road series until late May, their eighth of the year.

But, hey, did we mention the pitching?

"We are very pleased," Washington said. "Everything we do is going to be based on the work we get on the mound. So, far, we've been pitching pretty well. We are 3-3, and we are looking to get better."




- Dallas Stars Round 1 playoff schedule.



The Dallas Stars will open their first-round series with the Ducks at 9 p.m. CDT in Anaheim:

Ducks vs. Stars (All times Central)
Game 1: 9 p.m. Thursday at Anaheim
Game 2: 9 p.m. Saturday at Anaheim
Game 3: 7:30 p.m. Tues. April 15 at Dallas
Game 4: 7 p.m. Thurs. April 17 at Dallas
Game 5: 9:30 p.m. Fri. April 18 at Anaheim
Game 6: Time TBD Sun. April 20 at Dallas
Game 7: Time TBD Tue. April 22 at Anaheim

Games 5-7 will be played if necessary



- Jackson Height's own Randy Watson.

Keep it going

- Keep that momentum going. We'll know if Wednesday night was a mirage by how they play tonight against LA and Sunday against Phoenix. A bleak season could bust out with some hope with 1 win and a close loss, or 2 wins this weekend.

Energized Dallas Mavericks a little shocking

02:32 AM CDT on Friday, April 4, 2008

Jason Kidd came bounding off the bench and delivered a flying chest bump to Eddie Jones moments after he threw down an alley-oop dunk the other night against Golden State.

Josh Howard repeatedly attacked the basket without trepidation. Jason Terry hurtled out of bounds to save a loose ball, resulting in a reverse layup when Kidd delivered a nifty pass to Howard.

There were primal screams and fist pumps galore.

Then there was Dirk Nowitzki lumbering up and down the court with an injured ankle and knee, doing everything he could possibly do to lift the Mavericks past the Warriors.

The Mavs – who ran a tired Golden State team playing its fourth game in five nights into submission – is the team we need to see play each of the final seven games this season, not the group of tin men we've seen way too often against the Western Conference's best teams.

Now the players won't like that characterization. Neither will Avery Johnson. Or Mark Cuban.

But it's true.

How else do you describe a team that was 0-10 with a propensity for losing in the fourth quarter against teams above .500 until their triumph over the Warriors? Have you forgotten the loss against Golden State earlier this week, when the players said they didn't come out in the third quarter with the proper intensity?

Shoot me an e-mail when you figure out how that happens. If the Mavs were a top seed in the West, then I'd understand, but they're in the midst of a nine-team battle royal for their playoff lives.

Some of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the Little General. After all, teams are supposed to take on the characteristics of their coaches. Without hesitation, Avery will tell you about the toughness he displayed as a player and how he fought through adversity and how he maximized every ounce of ability in his 5-11 body to play 16 NBA seasons.

All that is true, but it doesn't matter in some respects if he can't figure out how to consistently get his team to play with the same mentality he did.

Certainly, we can agree that professionals, most of whom earn millions per season, shouldn't need inspirational words from a coach to play their best basketball every game.

The reality, however, is they do need their coach to inspire them from time to time.

Johnson is a fantastic public speaker. He just wrote an autobiography titled, Aspire Higher.

Well, it's time for Johnson to use some of those same motivational techniques to get his players to reach their potential every night. Anything less and the Mavs will still figure out a way to miss the playoffs, despite having essentially a three-game lead over the Warriors.

But it's also up to the players. They must absolutely, positively play with the same passion, effort and urgency over the next two weeks as they did against Golden State.

No one said it would be easy. It's not. And it doesn't mean they'll win every game, because the grind of the NBA schedule can humble even the best teams. The Mavs, though, have used up nearly all of their margin for error.

In the process, they have proved to us they're not good enough to beat the other top teams in the West without their best effort.

It's that simple.

The Mavs, on the verge of missing the playoffs with a loss to the Warriors, finally showed us the mental toughness and mettle they've lacked much of the year. Desperation can do that.

Admittedly, I didn't see it coming. I figured they'd lose. As a pragmatist, I tend to see things as they are – not as players and coaches think they will be or could be or could have been.

And this team has shown us little against the conference's best teams since the Kidd trade.

"The word 'swagger' has several letters in it," Johnson said. "And we don't want to stop on the 's.' We need to keep going."

If they can't, then their playoff exit will be even shorter than last season's six-game debacle.



- It appears the matchup troubles with Golden State are no longer present.



Matchups improved for Dallas Mavericks against Warriors

07:54 PM CDT on Thursday, April 3, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

Every NBA team makes personnel decisions that don't always work out, either in the short term or the long run.

The Dallas Mavericks may have been on the beneficial end of a move by the Golden State Warriors, judging from the way Josh Howard played against Stephen Jackson on Wednesday. The Warriors' small forward was 1-of-11 from the field and had just two points in 32 minutes.

Howard was guarding Jackson most of the time and, by the way, finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Turns out there's a reason Jackson wasn't nearly as effective against the Mavericks this time. He had 30 points in one game and 33 in the Game 6 clincher of their first-round playoff series last season.

"The problem is when we played against that team last year, I couldn't put Josh on Jackson because I needed him to guard Jason Richardson," coach Avery Johnson said. "Now, since they lost Richardson, Dirk has somebody to guard, whether it's [Kelenna] Azubuike or [Al] Harrington.

"Now Josh can try to put out Jackson, which we couldn't do last year because they were so small."

Last year, Nowitzki spent plenty of time on Jackson, and it was a matchup nightmare.

But the showing Wednesday was another sign that Howard is hitting a nice run at just the right time.

"My teammates look to me," Howard said. "I'm one of the top guys on the team. I'm not a rookie anymore. I've been around long enough. It's about responsibility."

Next up is the responsibility of guarding Kobe Bryant tonight.




- John Hollinger sizes up the West playoffs.



Forecasting the West: How will the top teams finish?

Much has been written about the incredibly compelling race in the Western Conference this season and the upcoming playoffs. Truly, this is the best playoff race the league has ever seen. Consider the fact that with two weeks to go in the season, not one Western team has even clinched a playoff berth.

Only three games separate the top six teams, and the first-place team is only 7½ games from being out of the playoffs entirely. On top of that, three teams that could win 50 games each are locked in a tight battle for the final two playoff berths.

So with the entire conference in the unusual situation of having two weeks worth of extremely meaningful games, it's time to break down where the Western playoff contenders stand, check out some of the numbers behind their performance, and look in the crystal ball at where everyone might end up.


New Orleans Hornets

Glass half-full: We had no crowd and no bench for half the season; now we have both.

Glass half-empty: Take away our pick-and-roll and we're screwed.

Key factoids you might not know: You might think that since the Hornets have the best point guard in the league in Chris Paul that they'd be an up-tempo outfit, but they're really not. Though they'll run when the opportunity presents itself, the Hornets are among the league's most deliberate teams when they get in the half-court. As a result, they play at the league's fourth-slowest pace.

Instead, here's a different secret to their success: They don't foul. You may not have that image of the Hornets since they have a tough-guy coach in Byron Scott and fierce frontcourt players like Tyson Chandler and David West, but this is the hardest team in the league to get to the line against.

New Orleans permits only .241 free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt, and the impact is enormous -- relative to the league average, this saves the Hornets about four points per game. Because of this, they're No. 6 in defensive efficiency, even though they're below the league average in both field-goal defense and forcing turnovers.

Remaining schedule: Pretty soft now that they've completed a wildly successful six-game Eastern road trip, going 5-1 with the only loss coming at Boston. Roadies against the Lakers and Mavs remain, as well as home games against Utah and Golden State, but the other five games are against losing teams.

Crystal ball says: No. 1 seed, here we come. The Hornets own the tiebreaker with San Antonio, so as long as they can go 5-3 over the final eight games and get to 57 wins, they should finish at least tied for the best record in the West and earn the top seed. The Playoff Odds of them doing this is 62.1 percent, so they're in pretty good shape. Not that it's any great reward -- they'd likely have to play the Mavs or Nuggets in the opening round.

San Antonio could push the Hornets down to No. 2, and the other team to watch is the Lakers. They still play the Hornets and will own the tiebreaker with a win.


San Antonio Spurs

Glass half-full: Relax, we do this every year.

Glass half-empty: This sure seemed easier when everybody wasn't 30-something.

Key factoids you might not know: San Antonio began its late surge even later than usual, not really turning things around for good until late March. But now the Spurs have won eight in a row and seem likely to be the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the West.

As usual, the defense is the key. The Spurs have been in the middle of the pack offensively all season, but rank third in defensive efficiency. They're the league's best defensive rebounding team, pulling down 76.9 percent of opponents' misses, and as usual they defend the 3-point line with ferocity. San Antonio gives up the fourth-fewest attempts -- only 19.5 percent of opponents' shots are 3s -- and are second only to Boston in 3-point defense at 33.8 percent.

But the reason San Antonio is so close to the rest of the Western pack rather than head and shoulders above is that several key role players have begun declining. Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley, Brent Barry, Jacque Vaughn and especially Robert Horry have all seen their output diminish due to age, injury or both, and as a result, on too many nights Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are left to carry the offense entirely. Barry's calf problem in particular has been a setback, because his still-deadly shot is an incredible deterrent to help defenders.

Remaining schedule: It's difficult. Road games against Utah, Portland and the Lakers are the most daunting part, but the home games against Utah and Phoenix aren't gimmies either. Only one of the seven games (home vs. Seattle) shapes up as an automatic win. The game against the Lakers will also determine who gets the tiebreaker; as a result it may end up deciding which team is the No. 2 seed and which is No. 3.

Crystal ball says: Chances are that the Spurs will win either four or five of these next seven games, which would probably be enough to get the No. 2 seed but not enough to win the division. To leapfrog New Orleans to No. 1, the Spurs probably would need to win six, unless the Hornets have an unexpected collapse down the stretch. The bigger question is probably whether the Spurs can hold off the Lakers for No. 2 -- if they'd even want to. The No. 3 seed, and a likely date with Houston, seems much more advantageous.


Los Angeles Lakers

Glass half-full: Once our injured guys come back we have more talent than anyone in the league.

Glass half-empty: Please don't hit Kobe's pinkie. Pretty please.

Key factoids you might not know: Here's one that might shock you. The Lakers employ one of the game's more renowned floppers in Derek Fisher, whose thespian skills most recently came into play on a controversial game-ending offensive foul against Golden State's Monta Ellis that could end up costing the Warriors a playoff spot.

But when it comes to forcing dead-ball turnovers (everything except steals), did you know the Lakers are last in the league? Isn't that amazing? You'd think Fisher's presence alone would make that impossible, but apparently not. Only 6.35 percent of L.A. opponents' possessions end in a turnover that isn't a steal; the league average is 7.21 percent.

Offensively, the Lakers are a rarity: A team that both gets to the line a lot and attempts a lot of 3s. Usually this is an either/or thing, but not in L.A.'s case. Bryant leads the way, averaging nine free-throw attempts, but Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ronny Turiaf and Andrew Bynum all have high free-throw rates. And everybody else lets it rip from deep, most notably Fisher, Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmanovic and Jordan Farmar. And, of course, Bryant.

As a result, L.A. ranks ninth in free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt and seventh in 3-point attempts per field-goal attempt (only Orlando can trump L.A. in these two categories). Since they also convert 37.5 percent of those 3s, it's a big reason the Lakers rank third in offensive efficiency.

Remaining schedule: The Lakers have the kindest slate of any Western Conference contender. Only three tough opponents remain -- San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans -- and all three games are at home. Of course, the Lakers just lost at home to Charlotte and Memphis, so they probably shouldn't be chalking up future wins just yet.

Crystal ball says: This is the hardest team in the league to figure. How long will Gasol need to get back to full strength? How much will Fisher be limited by his foot problems? What if Kobe gets hit on the pinkie? And when's Bynum coming back?

L.A. is only 7-6 in its past 13 games, and of those the Lakers really played well only once, in an admittedly impressive road win at Utah. The guess is that with Gasol back they regain some of their old mojo and get to at least 55 wins, which should be good enough for a division title and a No. 3 seed, given that they own the tiebreaker against Phoenix. That distinction between No. 3 and No. 5 will be enormous, since it's likely the difference between getting Utah or Houston in the first round.

The Lakers still have a shot at moving up, because they still play both San Antonio and New Orleans and would own both tiebreakers with victories. They'll probably need to run the table or go 6-1 at worst, but the top seed remains possible. The Playoff Odds give them a 12.8 percent shot of pulling it off.


Utah Jazz

Glass half-full: Three of our starters have been All-Stars -- and the fourth one is Deron Williams.

Glass half-empty: We don't have to play any road games in the playoffs … do we?

Key factoids you might not know: The Jazz may be the best team in the West, even with their deplorable road record, mediocre defense and questionable outside shooting. Utah is only sixth in terms of winning percentage, but is first in the West in scoring margin at 6.9 points per game, which is a better indicator of future success. Despite some horrid road losses, overall they've played very well of late, taking over the top spot in the league in offensive efficiency and moving up to No. 2 in the Hollinger Power Rankings.

Longtime Utah watchers will take comfort in the fact that they're still the league's resident mad hackers, with opponents averaging a league-best .394 free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt. This fact alone makes it impossible for the Jazz to have a better than average defense, but at least there's a reward for all those reach-ins: Utah has the league's No. 1 steal rate, pilfering the ball on 9.2 percent of opponents' possessions.

Remaining schedule: It's tough. The Jazz play San Antonio twice, as well as Denver, Houston, Dallas and New Orleans, and they still need to snag a couple of more wins to secure the Northwest Division title.

Crystal ball says: With three home games and three road games left, it's obvious, right? The Jazz go 3-3 and finish at 53-29, holding off Denver for the division but possibly leaving themselves the challenge of winning three playoff series on the road in order to win the conference.


Phoenix Suns

Glass half-full: We've won 10 out of 13, and the three losses were at Detroit, at Boston and at Denver.

Glass half-empty: We're still only 13-9 with Shaquille O'Neal.

Key factoids you might not know: I slammed Suns president Steve Kerr for trading for Shaq; based on the contents of my inbox, it appears one or two Suns fans noticed this. I still have some misgivings about the deal, especially once you get into next year and the year after, but it's hard not to notice how well the Suns are rolling right now.

The key has not been the play of Shaq, who continues to have an insanely high turnover rate. (Seriously, how do you make three turnovers a game if you're taking only eight shots?) Rather, it's been his apparent impact on Amare Stoudemire. The Suns made this deal in part to move Stoudemire out of the center spot, so you have to give them credit for the results.

In 22 games at power forward, Stoudemire has been the best player in the league. No, really, he's been that good. He has averaged 29.4 points on 58.2 percent shooting and averaged nearly 11 free-throw attempts.

But the number that maybe is most important is 36.7. That's how many minutes per game he's played with Shaq, after averaging only 33.0 before the trade because he was in foul trouble too often. Stoudemire's foul rate is still fairly high, but it has declined just enough that he's able to play his regular minutes.

A pessimist would note the Suns have shot unbelievably well on 3s during the recent hot streak, and that's unlikely to hold up over an extended period. But if Stoudemire keeps playing this freakishly well it's not going to matter too much, because right now the difference between New Stoudemire and Old Stoudemire more than offsets the difference between Shawn Marion and Shaquille O'Neal. I'd have never thought that possible, but it's happening.

Remaining schedule: It could be worse. Road games against San Antonio and Houston won't be fun, but they have two gimmies (home vs. Minnesota, at Memphis), and they should be able to handle home games against Dallas and Golden State.

Crystal ball says: The way they're playing they might grab six of the final seven and steal the division crown from L.A. The unfortunate thing is they probably have to win six of the seven, because the Lakers own the tiebreaker. So the smart money remains on the Suns ending up with the No. 5 seed and a brutal first-round pairing against Utah.

It's possible they could move up to No. 3 even if they don't win the division, because the Suns still play San Antonio and will own the tiebreak with a victory. But again, this scenario pretty much depends on them winning at least six of their last seven.


Houston Rockets

Glass half-full: We're 34-9 since New Year's Day and 13-5 since losing Yao Ming.

Glass half-empty: We never won a playoff series even with Yao; now we're supposed to do it without him?

Key factoids you might not know: It seems obvious that the Rockets are worse off without Yao Ming … yet trying to find evidence for this is amazingly difficult. At the time Yao went out, the Rockets were 17th in offensive efficiency and second in defensive efficiency; today they're 16th in offensive efficiency and second in defensive efficiency.

In fact, the Rockets are 1.2 points per 48 minutes worse with Yao on the court this season. Of course, that's partly because he missed out on all those double-digit victories at the tail end of the win streak.

Nonetheless, late cracks have begun to show. The Rockets are 3-5 since their epic 22-game winning streak ended, with three of the losses by 20 or more. Tracy McGrady is the only Rocket who can reliably create a shot, and the strain is becoming apparent. His shot attempts went from 18.9 a game to 21.7 in a Yao-less March, and his shooting percentage went from 43.2 percent to 40.9 percent. He's not making 3s anymore either, because all his shots out there are off-the-dribble, under-duress tries rather than kick-outs from Yao -- he made just 23.4 percent in March.

Remaining schedule: Houston's schedule is extremely favorable, which could leave the Rockets in the hunt for the division crown if they catch a few breaks. They have two games apiece against the Sonics and Clippers, although roadies against the Nuggets and Jazz will be difficult.

Crystal ball says: Houston is in a tough spot, because if it doesn't beat either San Antonio or New Orleans in the Southwest Division, it means the Rockets probably draw either the Jazz or the Lakers in Round 1. So much for ending T-Mac's first-round streak.

Even with the soft schedule, Houston's most likely outcome is 54 or 55 wins, which is probably going to be one or two short of what they need to avoid the Lakers and Jazz in Round 1. Look for them to end up as the No. 6 seed, though if they beat Phoenix on April 11, they could improve to No. 5.


Denver Nuggets

Glass half-full: Nobody else has two big-time scorers like Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony.

Glass half-empty: Nobody else's games look more ragged. Is this the NBA or the Rucker League?

Key factoids you might not know: Denver has the league's best free-throw "defense." Its opponents have made only 72.8 percent from the line this season. While some might attribute this to the Nuggets' speedy pace (and high altitude) tiring out opponents or being especially clever in choosing whom to foul, the bottom line is that this is almost certainly just plain old dumb luck.

And it's a pretty friendly piece of luck at that. Relative to the league, it's earned the Nuggets about 0.7 points per game, meaning it's been worth nearly two wins. In a playoff race which may be decided by one game, that's enormous. So basically, the reason Denver is probably headed to the playoffs instead of the lottery is the fact that its opponents can't make a free throw. What a country.

Remaining schedule: A four-game road trip with stops in Golden State and Utah won't be fun, but of their final seven games, five look like wins. Obviously the April 10 game at Golden State is huge: win that and they're pretty much a lock for the playoffs.

Crystal ball says: With tiebreakers over both Dallas and Golden State and the most favorable schedule of the three, it's going to take a real effort for Denver to stay home for the postseason, especially since the Nuggets are playing their best ball of the season.

Peg them for 51 wins and the No. 7 seed, and mark them down as a tough out in the first round. Even if they lose to Golden State next week, the schedules and tiebreakers combine to make it tough for Denver to miss.

I should also mention that the Nuggets retain a chance to beat out Utah for the Northwest Division and earn the No. 4 seed. Denver would have to win their upcoming meeting in Salt Lake City, which would give the Nuggets the tiebreaker, and could afford to lose one game at most between now and the end of the season. The Playoff Odds tool gives them a 10 percent shot of pulling it off.


Dallas Mavericks

Glass half-full: Dirk's back and now all will be good.

Glass half-empty: Now we can disappoint everybody in the playoffs again.

Key factoids you might not know: The Mavs' 1-10 record against winning teams since acquiring Jason Kidd has been well-documented. But here's the thing: They actually played really well in that stretch, and only a flukish series of close losses prevented their record from being much better.

For starters, three of the losses were without Dirk -- two due to injury and one due to suspension -- so let's set those aside.

Now check out the other seven losses. They lost by 11 at New Orleans, three at San Antonio, four in OT against the Lakers, by six at Utah, two to the Lakers, four to Boston and seven to San Antonio. Combined, they lost seven games by a total of 37 points.

Those were Dallas' only defeats in that stretch. Meanwhile, the games against losing teams were all runaways: by 29, 25, 25, 20, 19, 16, 15, 13, 9, 8 and 7. No, hammering sub-.500 teams doesn't impress people nearly as much, but it's just as good a sign of a team's quality. In 11 games against losing teams, Dallas crushed pretty much every one.

So overall, they're 12-10 since trading for Kidd. But that's 12-7 when Dirk plays -- with an average scoring margin of plus-9.2 per game, which would easily be the best in the West. Everyone has focused on a series of consecutive close losses against good teams, which resulted more from bad luck than bad basketball, and ignored the fact that in all the other games Dallas completely outmatched its opponents.

What I'm saying, in a roundabout way, is that this team is being vastly underestimated at the moment. Yes, there are some issues here, and no, I'm still not particularly fond of the Kidd trade overall. But all the evidence since the deal says this team can hang with the West's elite, and now that they hammered Golden State last night it seems they'll get a chance to show it.

Remaining schedule: Dallas has the most murderous remaining schedule of any Western contender, with a home-and-home against Seattle providing the lone breaks. Otherwise it's on the road against Portland, Phoenix and the Lakers, and home dates against Utah and New Orleans.

Crystal ball says: Obviously, it all comes down to Dirk Nowitzki's ankle. Let's say this: I'm stunned he was able to come back from a high ankle sprain in less than two weeks and do anything, let alone lead a rout of Golden State. Clearly, he is an absolute freak of nature. This is normally a four-week injury, and often it lingers beyond that point.

By the way, how badly do you think the Mavs were chuckling to themselves last night as they watched Golden State take the floor and behold Nowitzki playing -- after a story leaked out earlier in the day saying he wasn't in the game plan. I have visions of Mark Cuban laughing diabolically throughout the game while stabbing a Don Nelson voodoo doll.

At any rate, because of the schedule they might have trouble doing better than 4-3 the rest of the way, even if Nowitzki plays. It would help if New Orleans is locked into their spot on the last day of the season, which is a possibility, because then the Hornets would likely play their scrubs and allow Dallas to roll.

But fortunately for Dallas, they are up two games on Golden State and own the tiebreaker, so it would take a collapse to keep them out of the playoffs now. Look for them to end up tied with Denver at 51 wins and get the No. 8 seed -- where they can try to turn the tables on what happened a year ago.


Golden State Warriors

Glass half-full: Nobody can catch lightning in a bottle like us.

Glass half-empty: Nobody can mail in games like us.

Key factoids you might not know: You might think this team is all about reckless abandon, but actually they have the second-lowest turnover ratio in the league, making miscues on just 12.9 percent of their possessions. That's pretty amazing given that they play the league's second-fastest pace, and it's a tribute to the skills of Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson to play so quickly without making errors.

Now if they could just be a little smarter with their shots. Golden State is second in the league in 3-point attempts per field-goal attempt: 29.8 percent of their shots are 3s. But they convert them at a rate well below the league average: 35.1 percent.

Golden State also has hurt itself with some self-inflicted damage on the defensive end. The Warriors are dead last in defensive rebound percentage, pulling down only 69.8 percent of opponents' missed shots, which is yet one more reason it should drive Warriors fans crazy that their best defensive rebounder, Andris Biedrins, has played more than 30 minutes in a game exactly once since March 7. On Tuesday he played just 16, even though he was the only Warrior with a positive plus/minus in a blowout loss to the Spurs.

Remaining schedule: Probable losses remain in road games against New Orleans and Phoenix, but the others look very winnable. The key game is April 10 at home against Denver, but with Memphis, Sacramento, Seattle and the Clippers left, a 4-4 finish seems the worst-case scenario.

Crystal ball says: They pretty much screwed themselves with last night's face-plant in Dallas, and now might need to run the table to get to the postseason. Golden State has to beat Denver, certainly, but even that might not be enough because the rest of the Nuggets' schedule is easier and Denver wins the tiebreaker.

I'm projecting both Dallas and Denver to finish with 51 wins, which means Golden State needs to win 52 to get in ahead of them, requiring a 7-0 finish. Based on that schedule, it's not real likely, and the Playoff Odds tool agrees: Last night's loss dropped their odds to 31.0 percent, and it seems to me that's still overstating things.





- Stars win, have playoff matchup set versus the defending Champion, Anaheim. Ouch.



Dallas Stars draw Ducks in playoffs after 4-2 win

02:24 AM CDT on Friday, April 4, 2008
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News
mheika@dallasnews.com

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Dallas Stars locked themselves into a first-round playoff showdown with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday by taking a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes, but Stars coach Dave Tippett said his team wouldn’t start looking ahead to postseason play just yet.

"Our focus is totally on what we have to do right now, totally on getting our game where we have to get it," Tippett said. "They say, 'Know your enemy,' but we have two more games before we need to do that."

The Stars sat out Mike Ribeiro (flu-like symptoms), Brad Richards (overall soreness) and Marty Turco (coach’s decision) and still came up with a solid team effort. They will almost assuredly not have Sergei Zubov available in the first round of the playoffs after he went to Germany to have a procedure done that could help heal his sports hernia injury, but they still are starting to shake some of the dust from a miserable March.

With the win, Dallas is 2-0-2 in its last four games and moves to 44-29-7 (95 points). Sixth-place Colorado can only tie the Stars in the standings, and the Stars hold the tiebreakers. That means Dallas will play Anaheim in the first round. The only thing to be determined is who has home ice. The Ducks (45-27-8, 98 points) can clinch home ice by getting two points out of their final two games. The Stars need to get three more points than the Ducks in the final two games to move ahead in the standings.

"Any one of those teams is tough," Stars captain Brenden Morrow said when asked about locking up the Ducks. "We’ve had some great games against that team, and you’re going to have to go through them at some point, so we’ll have to do it in the first round."

The Stars say they need to continue to build their game, and they will get another chance tonight when they and the Coyotes fly to Dallas and finish the home-and-home series in a 7:30 p.m. game at American Airlines Center.

The Stars might get either Richards or Ribeiro back and will start Turco in goal, but the plan is the same – find a way to gain rhythm and momentum heading into the playoffs.

"Our work ethic, for the most part, was good," Tippett said. "We made some mistakes, but I felt we did a pretty good job for the lineup we had."

Tippett scrambled his lines and gave additional power-play responsibility to Philippe Boucher, Matt Niskanen and Joel Lundqvist. The trio responded with some big plays as Dallas went 2-for-5 with the man advantage. In addition, the defense pairs were solid in front of goalie Johan Holmqvist, who was playing his second game in a Stars uniform. Holmqvist played just one period March 15, allowing three goals on 12 shots before being pulled against the Vancouver Canucks.

"I thought it was much better than my first period at home," Holmqvist joked of a 21-save performance. "I thought it would be very hard to go into the playoffs off of that last game, so this felt good. I know I can play, and you just want to have rhythm and momentum going."

The Stars made a clear statement that they wanted to support their new teammate, who was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 26.

"We wanted to kind of stick together and support each other coming back," Morrow said. "We did a good job in lanes and when they did get those opportunities, Holmer came up big."

It wasn’t a complete masterpiece, as the Stars came close to blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period when they allowed two goals in the final 6:09. However, Mike Modano scored an empty-netter, and that clinched the win and no worse than fifth place in the West.

"There were positives," Tippett said. "And we’ll take the positives right now."


- Say it ain't so Barch.....



- I need a pick me up after that. Aaron Downey to the rescue.





- The Rangers' defense and clutch hitting sucks a fat one. So nothing's changed from last year.



Texas Rangers' defense off to shaky start

Ailing Young, Kinsler make uncharacteristic errors in opening series

01:39 AM CDT on Friday, April 4, 2008
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Texas Rangers' dugout was still bouncing as Josh Hamilton rounded the bases following his ninth-inning, go-ahead homer Tuesday. Amid the excitement, though, Michael Young and Ian Kinsler recognized the homer for exactly what it was: A reprieve.

The two combined for four errors in the first 17 innings of the season. The Rangers first loss could be directly attributed to shaky defense. Until Hamilton's homer, the team was in position to lose the second game for the same reason.

"It was just like 'OK, now let's tighten up the defense'," Young said. "We're not going to be able to make errors like we did and eke out wins all year."

Despite winning only one of three games in the season-opening series at Seattle, the Rangers displayed some nice attributes. They had some quality starting pitching from Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla. They had exemplary long relief from Jamey Wright. Their newly reshaped outfield, with Josh Hamilton and David Murphy, provided some of the club's biggest hits and biggest plays.

The middle infield's defense, considered to be one of the club's more stable areas, was shaky though. Perhaps that was due to fighting flu-like chills and fever during the first two days of the series. Young and Kinsler were nearly scratched from games with fevers above 100 degrees.

Regardless of the reasons, however, it did bring back memories of last year when fielding was a season-long issue. The year began with a sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels in which the club made five errors. One by Young was key to a four-run Angels' first-inning in the series finale, which Los Angeles won, 5-3. The Rangers went on to lead the AL in errors and unearned runs allowed.

Becoming a better fielding team was one of the main themes of the off-season and spring training. In the first two games, though, both players had plenty of problems.

Young failed to field a squirming ground ball in the first game and was charged with an error. The error led to a Seattle rally. In the second game, he short-hopped a throw to first, creating an opening for Seattle to rally back from a 3-1 deficit to take a momentary lead. Also in the second game, Kinsler dropped a throw from catcher Gerald Laird that led to the Mariners' first run. In Seattle's three-run eighth inning, Kinsler tried to go to second with a ball for a force out, but moved too quickly and the ball squirted out of his hands.

"We just made some misplays, but we're not panicking on it," manger Ron Washington said. "We know that they will make the plays. It's going to get cleared up. Physical mistakes happen. I don't mind physical mistakes so much."

Young and Kinsler, along with Hamilton in center and Laird, should help the spine of the team's defense be sharper. Hamilton made three impressive running catches during the series. While there were three wild pitches with Laird behind the plate, he did throw out two of the four runners who tried to steal against him (it would have been three of four if Kinsler had held on to a Game 2 throw).

"I'm going to make more errors," Young said. "I feel like I butchered a ball. But the good thing was the team fought through it. We won that game despite making mistakes. That's a positive. But we can't do that all year."

The club seemed to understand that. The Rangers followed Hamilton's homer with their first "clean" game of the year.

Now, they hope to simply extend that streak.




- Paul Brogan Final 4 rap.
PAUL BROGAN - FINAL FOUR RAP


- Britney Spears rap.
PAUL BROGAN -- BRITNEY SPEARS RAP


- Shaq rap.
PAUL BROGAN -- SHAQ RAP

MVP

- He's not the MVP this year, and he may never win another one. His stats from his MVP season are down. He was at or below career lows in FG% and 3 point FG% for the year before Jason Kidd. But I don't care. Last night you saw Dirk's true value to this team. He inspires. He leads. He's the single toughest dude in the NBA. And I have no problem saying that.

- Toughness isn't just because you're 350 pounds and you can knock people around. Toughness isn't because you're a thug who scares people. Toughness is refusing to let 2 major sprains in your knee and ankle send your team's season down the drain. Toughness is trotting out there within 10 days of a horrific injury. Toughness is spraining your ankle every year since you've been in the league and yet still playing 76 games or more every season for 10 seasons. Toughness is getting your front teeth knocked out, sitting out for a timeout, and coming back to lead your team to a playoff victory.

- I don't want to hear it anymore from anyone. I've been saying Dirk's one of the toughest dudes in the league for 5 years now. The guy doesn't let pain slow him down.

- He saw his team playing its worst ball of the year. He saw the season going down the drain. He saw a must win game, and he responded. He put this team and this franchise on his back for the umpteenth time when they needed him the most. And this hasn't been the first time......

- Dirk after Game 7 against San Antonio in 2006 - "I saw everything slipping away, the great season we had," Nowitzki said. "If there's a drive to the lane, just take it in there."

- Dirk after his 50 point game 5 in the 2006 Western Finals - "When we were down seven, I just saw the whole season swimming away," Nowitzki said, repeating a sentiment he trotted out for the first time when the Spurs erased a 20-point deficit in Game 7.

- Dirk after last night - "If it would have been November, there's no way I would have been out there," Nowitzki said. "But we've got to get this playoff spot. We've been fighting all season long, so I tried to be out there and helped the team as much as I could. If we'd lost, it wouldn't have looked too good."

- He had a pedestrian game for a healthy Dirk. But this was a guy running up and down the court, doing some spin moves, finishing fast breaks. And all of this within 10 days of him basically twisting his knee and ankle up like a pretzel. He did more than score points and fill up the box score last night, he showed a level of leadership and toughness that no one gives him proper credit for.

- This wasn't a jump shooting team that had everything fall for them for one night. Anyone can do that. They were getting steals, controlling the boards, driving to the basket, and getting production from bench players. This was a hungry, inspired, energetic, dive for every loose ball team. They showed a fire that I hadn't seen all year. And I have to believe it was all from the inspiration and toughness that Dirk brings to the table.

- I'm not even sure where the non-clutch, non-leader things come from. There's lots of good players who have failed in the spotlight. There's lots of good players who haven't won titles. But yet, Dirk seems to be the biggest lightning rod for things like this.

- Do people forget him upping his regular season averages to 25 and 11 in the playoffs? His 50 point game in a pivotal game 5 of the 2006 Western Finals? His potential game winning shot over Shaq in Game 4 of the NBA Finals? (Miami was then bailed out by Wade getting to the free throw line on the next possession). His 37 and 13 in game 7 on the road to beat San Antonio in 2006? Dallas's failures as a team are not an indication of Dirk's ability to be clutch or lead. He's done all he can do with a severely average cast around him.

- I don't know where they go from here, this may just be the calm before the shitstorm of losses that may be coming. This may mean nothing when they're beat out in the 1st round (should they make the playoffs). But I don't care, for one night, the nation saw what Dirk is. He put on the Superman cape and willed his team to victory. Not by points and big shots, but by toughness and leadership.

- Hopefully some of those nationally who are misinformed and base judgement on the 5 or so Mavs games they see a year, were educated last night. And for that faction locally that run their mouth on Dirk, go F yourself.

Nowitzki's Return Inspires Mavericks

By Marc Stein
ESPN.com

DALLAS -- We could not be calling it Resurrection Wednesday in the NBA if we didn't see multiple resurrections. You had Gilbert Arenas, Pau Gasol and Elton Brand making headline-grabbing comebacks, too.

Yet surely you can judge who made Wednesday's grandest, newsiest return.

Maybe this 111-86 rout of the Golden State Warriors won't be remembered as Dirk Nowitzki's grittiest game. It'll be tough for him to ever top the dramatic comeback he made as a playoff rookie back in 2001, when Nowitzki got a tooth knocked out in the Dallas Mavericks' second-round hookup with San Antonio and kept playing after a brief break to soak up the blood, eventually carrying the Mavs in crunch time in their only victory of the series.

This was close, though.

This was Nowitzki coming back from a high ankle sprain -- and thus the worst ankle injury in a career filled with them -- to possibly save the Mavs' season after missing just four games and nine days. As weary and weak as the Warriors uncharacteristically looked, playing for the fourth time in five nights, there's no denying that Nowitzki's 18 points and much larger presence at American Airlines Center totally changed a game that puts Golden State at a decisive disadvantage for what remains of the greatest conference race in league history.

"It's quite an inspiration to their ballclub," Warriors coach Don Nelson said of Nowitzki's return, recognizing that sort of impact after coaching the reigning MVP in the aforementioned tooth episode.

"They just went to a different level than we've seen this year. And if they can keep that level going, they're as good as anybody in the West."

The famously hyperbolic Nelson was the only one here willing to go that far with his tribute, since this was only Dallas' first win against a team with a winning record since the big trade it made in mid-February to bring back Jason Kidd. First in 11 tries, no less.

Yet there was no way for either side to downplay how much was riding on the outcome, with the Warriors (45-30) effectively dropping two games behind No. 8 Denver (46-29) and three games behind No. 7 Dallas (47-28) with the defeat because they'll lose out on any tiebreakers with either team.

"The playoffs started early this year," Nowitzki said after logging nearly 27 minutes, slightly exceeding his 24-minute limit as established by the Mavs' medical staff. "I knew if I was going to wait until I was 100 percent, our season was going to be over.

"If we go down tonight, things really didn't look good at all."

So Nowitzki played at maybe 80 percent and after he and Avery Johnson spent much of the day spewing pessimism in an attempt to try to convince the media (and Golden State) that the comeback was still on hold. "Nellie taught me that," Johnson joked.

The problem with holding off any longer in the name of safety was that Dallas' next two games are roadies against the Lakers and Suns, neither of which is especially welcoming even with Nowitzki in the lineup. So Nowitzki and his coach knew they really couldn't wait, given that no game left on the schedule could impact the standings like the Warriors' visit. The plan, then, called for Johnson to restrict Nowitzki to bursts of four-to-six minutes.

Not that there would be any actual bursting from the 7-footer. Nowitzki was largely reduced to a spot-up shooter, still lacking the lift he needs to attack the basket or rise up for jumpers off the dribble or even chase rebounds. Example: In the final minute of the opening quarter, Nowitzki got the ball just beyond the free-throw line late in the shot clock and promptly handed it off to Devean George without even looking for his shot.

Nowitzki was also grateful that the Warriors had nothing going offensively beyond Monta Ellis and Baron Davis to tax him at the other end, when you figured Nelson would go right at him and the bulky brace protecting his left ankle.

"Didn't move well at all," Nowitzki said.

Yet what he clearly did do, after a pregame hug from Nelson, is energize a group that has been steadily losing confidence. The Mavs have lost starting shooting guard Jerry Stackhouse (groin) for at least one more week in addition to their Nowitzki issues, but Jason Terry broke out of a recent malaise by pumping in 31 points in Stackhouse's place. Josh Howard (28 points) was another stalwart and Kidd almost made you forget his mere five points on 1-for-6 shooting by controlling the game in so many other places, amassing 17 assists and 11 rebounds in his ongoing quest for triple-double No. 100.

The Mavs wound up pushing the lead into double-digits with Nowitzki and Kidd on the bench, sparked by a resurgent Eddie Jones, who emerged from his season of injury frustration at 36 to deliver 12 points, five rebounds and one alley-oop finish that sent the Mavs' bench into delirium in 20 minutes. The Mavs also rung up a stunning 35 assists and 44 fast-break points to Golden State's 10 and 16 in the same categories, after days of growing concern locally about the lack of ball and player movement in their offense since the trade.

The sorry state of the Warriors on this night -- "How many times can you say that we got outrun?" Davis lamented -- made it difficult to embrace Terry's suggestion that this outcome could be what "flips the switch on" for a Mavs team that has been floundering for more than a month. It's way too soon to say that.

What we can say is that Nowitzki's well-chronicled reputation as a freakishly fast healer has to be raised another notch, especially since it came against Stephen Jackson and the rest of his playoff tormentors from Oakland. Don't forget, furthermore, that Cleveland's Daniel Gibson -- just to make one comparison -- missed more than 30 days with a similar high ankle sprain earlier this season.

"Hopefully by me playing it didn't make it worse," Nowitzki said.

Nah. You figure karma was with him on Resurrection Wednesday.



- That's all I have today. I'm ready to rock and roll this weekend at Phoenix and LA. I hope this gives this team renewed hope that they can beat these types of teams.



- Scott Weiland is done with Velvet Revolver. We officially have no more true rock and roll bands. A tragedy.

Huge

- Although the local media seems to be calling every game of the past 2 weeks the "biggest game of the year", I think we may have finally found the no doubt "biggest game of the year."

- A win tonight does a few things.
1) It gives the Mavs a 2 game lead in the standings over Golden State, and a 3 game lead overall (tiebreaker with Golden State).
2) It starts the long road back to gaining confidence that they can beat good teams. Can this team really go 0-11 since the trade against playoff teams?
3) If they're Dirk-less, it gives them confidence to be able to beat good teams shorthanded. If they have Dirk, it gives them hope for success in the playoffs.

- No matter how you look at it, it's huge. Win this game, and making the playoffs will look increasingly more likely.

For Dallas Mavericks, it's playoffs or bust

02:40 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The only good news about watching the Dallas Mavericks play without Dirk Nowitzki is that it reminds all those who say Dallas will never win with Dirk just how much this team is capable of losing without him.

Others see another hidden silver lining in the team's downturn, which has it on the brink of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

There are fans and followers of this team who contend that missing the playoffs and getting a lottery pick is better than landing the seventh or eighth seed and getting bounced in the first round.

I don't buy it.

First off, if the Mavericks barely miss the playoffs, they aren't likely to win the lottery. Chances are they will get the 14th pick.

Now you can find a serviceable player with that selection. The last three No. 14 picks – Minnesota's Rashad McCants, Utah's Ronnie Brewer and the Clippers' Al Thornton – all average between 12 and 15 points for their teams.

But those aren't franchise-changing players, which is what a team that misses the playoffs needs to find.

And, for me, there are just two huge problems with teams that miss the playoffs.

One is that NBA championships are earned through playoff wins and defeats. Teams that win or get to the NBA Finals are almost always teams that have been going to the postseason and enjoying success for at least two years.

Over the last 12 seasons, of the 24 teams that have reached the Finals, only three had missed the playoffs in either of the previous two years. And it's easy to spot why those teams were the exceptions.

The San Antonio Spurs won their first title in 1999. They did not make the playoffs in 1997. That was the year David Robinson missed all but six games and the team won the lottery and landed Tim Duncan.

Now that's a franchise-changing player.

In 2002, the New Jersey Nets made the first of two straight trips to the Finals after missing the playoffs the previous season. But before the 2001-02 season, they added Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, which elevated the Nets to the top of the East.

And in 2007, Cleveland went to the Finals two years removed from missing the playoffs. Obviously, LeBron James' rise to prominence can be traced to the Cavaliers' success.

All the other teams had been competing in the playoffs both the previous two years (or more) before getting to the Finals. And in more than 80 percent of the cases, all had advanced to at least the second round.

So I don't see sitting out the most competitive Western Conference race on record and re-trenching with a mid-first round draft pick as a legitimate option for Dallas.

Also, there is a huge mental downside to missing the playoffs. And we know this was a team with a fragile psyche and something less than a killer instinct even when it won 67 regular-season games.

Obviously, Mavericks management heard a clock ticking when it made the Kidd trade. He's a 35-year-old point guard. He won't be playing when he's 40.

And I don't see it as a foregone conclusion that the Mavericks – or anyone else, for that matter – automatically lose in the first round. Yes, I'm well aware of the team's 0-10 record against winning teams since the deal.

Throw out the last two defeats because Nowitzki wasn't on the floor. OK, 0-8's still lousy. I get it.

And watching them struggle to beat a crippled Clippers team makes it hard to think about playoff victories.

But for the year, the team's record in the conference is the same as San Antonio's. It's better than Utah's.

I can't believe that just because Kidd is in the lineup now instead of Devin Harris that none of those games are winnable any more.

Things can change.

In Phoenix, Shaquille O'Neal's first two weeks produced the worst Suns basketball of the year. Critics said they were doomed. Can't run anymore. Can't defend on the outside.

Now Phoenix is playing some of its best basketball and is a major contender in the West.

It didn't click in Dallas as quickly as it did in Phoenix. It still can.

It doesn't have to keep clanking. And for Mavs fans, it's worth being happy for.

In pro sports, anything is better than just barely missing the playoffs. That's not the road to success. It's the road to prolonged mediocrity.




- Rangers win despite more bad defense and more bad pitching out of the bullpen. Josh Hamilton will be the most popular/well-liked Ranger since Rusty Greer this season.



Hamilton hammers win home for Texas Rangers

09:31 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com

SEATTLE – The expectation is that Josh Hamilton will do exactly what he did Tuesday night. He’ll deliver dramatic winning homers.

Here’s a bit of advice, though: If you sit around waiting for a Hamilton homer, you may miss some other compelling parts of his act. The guy can catch the ball, and he can run, too.

And when you put it all together, he’s got the ability to single-handedly deliver a game just like Tuesday’s 5-4 win over Seattle. The standings will say the Texas Rangers are 1-1 today. Make no mistake, though, the win was all Hamilton.

Even before he drove the first pitch he saw from Mariners reliever J.J. Putz into the right field seats with one out and Ian Kinsler on first in the ninth inning, he first kept the Rangers in the game with two running catches and then helped give the club the lead by beating out a rally-starting infield hit.

“When I’m not having a good game at the plate, and I wasn’t having one early in this game, I still want to be able to do everything I can to help the team win a game,” Hamilton said. “I love playing the outfield. I love it even more than hitting.”

When the Rangers acquired Hamilton, it was with the thought that possibly, just possibly, he was a franchise kind of player. He looked the part Tuesday.

Just consider:

• In the fifth and seventh innings, he ran down long fly balls off the bats of various Mariners to keep a 1-1 score tied. Brad Wilkerson had driven a two-out pitch from Vicente Padilla deep towards left center in the fifth. But with Richie Sexson lumbering around the bases, Hamilton, stumbling into the wall as he reached for the ball, made an over-the-shoulder grab. In the seventh, he went to right-center to take extra bases away from Raul Ibanez to start the inning.

• In the eighth, he started the Rangers' rally by hustling to first after chopping a pitch from lefty Eric O’Flaherty into the ground. Thought Sexson fielded the ball cleanly, the high bounce and Hamilton’s hustle gave him enough time to reach the bag just ahead of the Mariners first baseman. Hank Blalock followed with a double on a 1-and-2 count, and then Milton Bradley’s fly ball gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead. They expanded it to 3-1 when David Murphy doubled with two outs.

• In the ninth, after Kinsler’s hit, flu-ridden Michael Young struck out, leaving Hamilton to face Putz. In the season-opener, Putz struck Hamilton out to end the game. Hamilton saw eight pitches in that at-bat, though, including four fastballs.

“I think he’s trying to do too much right now only because it’s a new team,” manager Ron Washington said. “But he saw a lot of pitches from Putz the night before. I’m just glad he threw a first-pitch fastball.”

The Rangers, however, seemed determine to find out the full scope of Hamilton’s capabilities because they gave the lead right back with a second consecutive day of shoddy fielding.

The Rangers committed two of their three errors in the bottom of the eighth. The two errors, combined with a wild pitch by Joaquin Benoit, produced three Seattle runs. The winning run scored when Benoit’s first pitch to Adrian Beltre with two outs skipped away from Gerald Laird. Yuniesky Betancourt scored from third when Laird had trouble grasping the ball after chasing it down at the home on-deck circle.

But it was only the last mistake in an inning full of them. He quickly got No. 7 hitter Jose Vidro to bounce to Young, who didn’t even have to take a step to field the ball. Young, who battled the flu all day, may have been in a semi-weakened state. His routine throw didn’t even make it across the infield grass and skipped by Ben Broussard, allowing Vidro to go to second.

The Nos. 8 and 9 hitters, Kenji Johjima and Betancourt, followed with singles to make it a 3-2 game. With runners on first and third, Ichiro Suzuki slapped a ball to second baseman Ian Kinsler. Kinsler, who had taken a fastball off the right hand while trying to bunt in the seventh, tried to do too much. It was unlikely Kinsler would have gotten the double play even if he had fielded the ball cleanly, but he bobbled it and got no outs while the tying run scored.

After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk of Raul Ibanez and a strikeout of Richie Sexson, the Rangers seemed in position to get out of the inning with the score tied. That’s when Benoit threw a pitch in the dirt and the go-ahead run scored.

It was apparently all just part of the setup for Hamilton.

“The guy stayed focused all game long,” outfielder Marlon Byrd said. “He did what he needed to do. He’s just amazing.”




- This ain't good. Stars looking at starting 2 rookie defenseman to open the playoffs. Ouch.



Dallas Stars' Zubov may miss start of playoffs

02:18 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By MIKE HEIKA / The Dallas Morning News
mheika@dallasnews.com

FRISCO – Dallas Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov has had a setback in his recovery from foot and groin injuries and will be re-evaluated Friday, coach Dave Tippett said.

Zubov may not be ready to play when the playoffs begin next Wednesday or Thursday.

"He's going to see a specialist and probably won't be on the ice for a few days," Tippett said.

Zubov has missed the last 30 games with foot and groin injuries. The foot injury started to become a concern in early January, and Zubov missed three games at the time. However, he tried to play through the foot pain and ended up compensating so much that he injured his groin.

Zubov's last game was Jan. 17. He rested the foot for a month and then tried to skate on it in mid-February. When the foot did not respond, Zubov had a screw placed in a small bone in his right foot Feb. 24. The screw was supposed to help ensure the foot would be stable and ready for the playoffs, and Zubov has been skating since March 21 with seemingly good results.

He traveled with the team on its most recent road trip to California and skated hard in Friday's practice.

However, he was given Monday off to rest and then did not skate Tuesday. He instead went out of town to see a specialist, and Tippett said he expected to have an update Friday.

"It's a concern, it's a concern," Tippett said when asked how serious the problem could be. "We'll revisit it on Friday. We'll see what results we get and where we are."

When asked if Zubov was having problems with the foot or the groin, Tippett replied: "All of the above."

Zubov missed Game 7 of the Stars' first-round playoff series with Vancouver last season, and Dallas lost, 4-1.

He had surgery to repair a sports hernia in the summer and then returned to the ice in September for preseason workouts.

He tallied four goals and 31 assists in the team's first 46 games and was drawing mention as a candidate for the Norris Trophy, given to the top defenseman in the NHL. He was averaging 25:41 in ice time, tops among all Stars players.

Dallas quickly overcame the absence of Zubov, going 15-4-0 in the first 19 games he missed. However, the increased pressure from opponents and the inexperience of three rookie defensemen caught up to the team in March, when it went 2-7-2.

The return of Philippe Boucher (shoulder) to the lineup should help take some pressure off the young defensemen, but the absence of Zubov would be clearly felt, especially in the playoffs.

"Obviously, he's one of the best defensemen in the league, so we definitely miss him," captain Brenden Morrow said. "We've played some good hockey without him, and we need some guys to step up if he's not ready. Those are big minutes to fill, but someone might have to fill them."

Briefly: C Brad Richards missed practice Tuesday, and Tippett said it was a mixture of allowing Richards, who was acquired in a Feb. 26 trade with Tampa Bay, to take care of some personal concerns and also because he was dealing with some soreness. Tippett said he thinks Richards will skate today.