Saving Dirk

With the Mavericks coasting in the second quarter, Avery Johnson left Dirk on the bench a little longer. That's good news longterm because the fewer minutes Nowitzki plays, the fresher he'll be for the playoffs.

But while on the floor for 5:22 of the period, Nowitzki got only two shots off. Part of the problem was frenetic defense by Walter Herrmann, but, still, Nowitzki has historically played well against Detroit and Dallas needs to get the ball in his hands more in the second half.

-- Jan Hubbard