As we reported from Saturday night's game, excuses won't work anymore, Avery Johnson says, and that specifically means Jason Kidd needs to start to figure out the defensive scheme.
Kidd apparently agrees: "Coach's principles are a lot different than in New Jersey so that's probably the side I'm a little bit behind on and trying to catch up. But, 10 games in now I have no excuses for making mistakes on the defensive end."
Said Johnson: "Now we're just telling them the trade is over now, no more excuses about the trade. We're all now Mavericks and at some point you have to get some stuff out of your system. And that's what we've told Kidd and Malik Allen, even [Antoine] Wright, who's playing a little bit now. This is the way we like to do it and everybody has to get on the same page because we can't have the Mavericks that have been here and our new guys thinking two different things, that's unacceptable now."
Johnson said he knew it take some time for cohesion, but he admitted Monday morning that it's taken longer than even he figured.
"I thought it would take long, but not this long, so hopefully now we're pushing them that we can't use that as a crutch anymore, even though we know it's a fact now. But we can't use it as a crutch, we've got to all get on the same page sooner rather than later."
-- Jeff Caplan
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