Avery, What Were You Thinking?

I don’t have much hair left but Avery Johnson caused me to lose more of it last night. The Mavs played the Spurs last night and to tell you the truth, I didn’t give Dallas 3 chances in 10 to beat San Antonio. First off, the game was in San Antonio where the Spurs have lost all of 3 games this year. Second, the Spurs (before last night) had won 6 games in a row and are probably playing their best basketball of the season. Third, Dallas is still getting used to playing with Jason Kidd (and vice versa). So, all that to me added up to about a 10 point loss.

However, Dallas played very well and even led much of the game. But, in the last 35 seconds, with Dallas trailing by 2, Avery pulled Jason Kidd out of the game and inserted Jerry Stackhouse so that the Mavs would have an extra shooter on the floor. I don’t agree with that at all. What did the Mavs go out and get Kidd for? I don’t think they gave up Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, two 1st round picks and 3 million dollars to have Kidd on the bench in crunch time vs. the Spurs. That was lunacy.

Jason Kidd may not score a lot but he can distribute and handle the ball better than any one else on the Mavs roster. Instead, Avery had Jason Terry running the point and even though he is typically a good shooter, he isn’t a good point guard. It should be noted that on the final play where Terry drove the lane and had his shot blocked by Bruce Bowen, Dirk was on the wing, wide open at the 3 pt. arc. Terry didn’t even look to pass. I think Kidd would have and would have found Dirk for the shot.

I’m not saying that Dallas would have won but I like Kidd running the offense better than I like Terry running it. That final play was a busted play anyway and, in that situation, you need people on the floor that can make plays…Kidd can do that. I even remember Avery saying during Kidd’s introductory press conference that the Mavs brought Kidd in to “close out games.” What was that last night? That was a close out game if there ever was one!

If I were Kidd in this situation, I wouldn’t have been happy at all about sitting on the bench in that situation. And neither would Avery. If in the same position, when Avery played for the Spurs, if Popovich would have benched Avery in favor of another “shooter”, I feel very safe in saying that would not have set well at all with him.

I still think Avery is a good coach but he is going to take a lot of heat for that decision which he deserves. However, looking at the result (and after Avery watches the film and sees a wide open Dirk) I don’t think that will happen again. And it most definitely shouldn’t!