Full-Court Press

Dampier's big night

Erick Dampier hadn't been playing much lately, be it because the Mavericks were playing smaller lineups or James Singleton was emerging or both. But the Mavs needed him against San Antonio on Wednesday and he didn't disappoint. Here are his numbers in a nutshell:
    31:29 minutes, most he's played since Feb. 18 against New Jersey
    4 blocked shots, and three of those came in the fourth quarter
    19 points for Tim Duncan... he had a little something to do with that, didn't he?

Jason Terry was very high on Dampier's work:
    "Erick Dampier is what makes this team go. He's the one we look for to seal our paint and he's always guarding the toughest player every night. When he plays and coach leaves him out there a good amount of time, he's productive. He was tremendous. It shows what we're capable of doing as a team when we allow him to play. He was doing stuff tonight we haven't seen in a long time: chasing Tony Parker off a three, scrambling around, playing Tim

Duncan

tough. If we have a presence like Damp to defend Chris Paul, we'll be tough to beat."

So, can Dampier do it again tonight?

-- Tracey Myers

Dampier cleans up inside

At least he was in the third quarter, when he collected nine of his 16 rebounds thus far.

Damp needs to stay involved

Although the Hornets have more big-man athleticism, the Mavs have one of the strongest big men in the league in Erick Dampier. He scored twice early, and getting him involved should be a priority. It's part of the game plan that the Hornets aren't as well equipped to deal with, and to get him open, the Mavs have to staying moving elsewhere on the court to keep New Orleans busy on defense. Hopefully Damp doesn't drop out of the offensive picture for long stretches like the case has been most of the series.

-Scooter Hendon

Franchise records, ready to be broken

Dirk Nowitzki is the playoffs franchise leader in 15 statistical categories, several of which he earned in the Mavs short stint in the playoffs last year. But, he has a few more he can grab in these playoffs, and there are several other Mavs that are closing in on records as well. A look at how close some of them are to moving up the franchise ladder after the jump:

Pregame with Avery Johnson

The Mavs' head coach had a quite a bit to say:

What would it take to be a good afternoon?
Well, we'd like to play some defense similar to what we played last
game. I thought our defense was pretty good. Any time you hold one of
the better teams in the league to 34% shooting, and outrebound them
and 22% from the three-point line, you're supposed to have a shot at
winning the game. You know, our last nine possessions of that game,
we turned it over three times, we missed three layups, we missed a
free-throw or two. We just can't have that in the last two to four
minutes of the game.

Avery talks on Galloway's show

Mavs coach Avery Johnson was a guest on Randy Galloway's radio show Friday. Here's a sampling of what Avery had to say:

On Thursday;s loss to the Rockets: Well, we're disappointed. We didn't have that emotional energy like I thought we were gonna have. ... That was one of our worst performances of the year.

On the increased heat he is taking: I always try to keep myself in the forefront of things if the games aren't going well. I've never been one to run and and hide. ... But we need to get something from the players ... more energy, leadership, fire ... we are still waiting to get it on a consistent basis. 

A few reflections from tonight's game

As expected, Tim Duncan ate the depleted Mavs front court alive tonight, scoring 31 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and shooting 12 of 20 from the floor. Jamaal Magloire was inactive in his first eligible game as a Maverick, so that meant Erick Dampier and Brandon Bass got to trade off guarding him. That evidently didn't work, and Duncan turned out to be a huge part of the game.

The matchup of Jason Kidd vs. Tony Parker wasn't quite what it was billed as, however. Parker is still slowed by the ankle injury that held him out for nine games, and is obviously not his usual self. But, Kidd wasn't able to utilize Parker's hindrance anyway tonight as Manu Ginobili was paired with him defensively most of the time. So, the longer, more agile Manu was able to hold Kidd to seven points on 3-of-8 shooting. Kidd was able to dish out 10 assists, but he wasn't even in the game for the last half minute and didn't impact the game as heavily as the Mavericks may have expected.

It's worrisome how the Mavericks are coming out of late-game timeouts with busted plays. They lucked out with two big offensive rebounds, which was the only reason they had multiple chances to tie the game. Maybe if that's Jason Kidd driving and dishing at the end of the game (instead of Terry driving and getting blocked ugly-style by Bruce Bowen), then things might have ended differently. Of course, that's assuming that Kidd was even quick enough to get into the lane to dish it out in the first place.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd

Dirk close, but unlikely to catch up

The newest All-Star returns are in and Dirk Nowitzki remains third among Western Conference forwards. But Tim Duncan and Carmelo have such a big lead that it's doubtful Dirk can catch up. Here are the returns:

East Forwards: 
Kevin  Garnett (Bos) 1,756,251
LeBron James (Cle) 1,564,974;
Chris  Bosh  (Tor) 516,669
Paul Pierce (Bos) 411,231
Yi Jianlian (Mil)   342,669
Caron  Butler  (Was)  213,924
Hedo Turkoglu  (Orl) 196,362;
Tayshaun Prince (Det) 178,122
Andrea Bargnani (Tor) 168,287
Josh Smith (Atl) 163,384.

East guards
Dwyane Wade (Mia) 1,179,889
Jason Kidd (NJ) 868,069
Ray Allen   (Bos)  733,440
Vince Carter (NJ) 708,409
Gilbert Arenas (Was) 585,345
Chauncey  Billups  (Det)  402,787
Michael  Redd (Mil) 247,384
Richard Hamilton  (Det)  193,618
Joe  Johnson  (Atl)  171,500
T.J. Ford (Tor) 164,342

East Centers
Dwight Howard (Orl) 1,456,898
Shaquille O'Neal (Mia) 701,253
Rasheed  Wallace  (Det)  190,684
Ben  Wallace  (Chi) 172,147
Zydrunas Ilgauskas  (Cle)  163,518
Andrew  Bogut (Mil) 156,012
Jermaine O’Neal   (Ind)  143,026
Emeka  Okafor (Cha) 85,340
Zaza Pachulia (Atl) 66,705
Eddy Curry (NY) 64,896.

West forwards
Tim  Duncan  (SA) 1,246,125
Carmelo Anthony (Den) 1,218,106
Dirk  Nowitzki (Dal) 946,421
Carlos Boozer (Utah) 402,917
Shawn Marion (Pho)  345,400
Shane Battier (Hou) 341,621
Josh Howard (Dal) 324,267
Luis  Scola  (Hou) 309,994
Kevin Durant (Sea) 299,481
Grant Hill (Pho)   248,273.

West guards
Kobe Bryant (LAL) 1,441,333
Tracy McGrady (Hou) 907,639
Allen   Iverson  (Den)  827,273
Steve  Nash  (Pho) 808,995
Manu Ginobili (SA)   418,442
Tony Parker (SA) 374,340
Chris Paul (NO) 330,902
Baron Davis   (GS) 298,827
Jason Terry (Dal) 241,839
Jerry Stackhouse (Dal) 212,320

West centers
Yao  Ming  (Hou)  1,255,263
Amaré  Stoudemire (Pho) 685,772
Marcus Camby (Den) 265,830
Erick Dampier (Dal) 207,354
Pau Gasol (Mem)   154,741
Tyson  Chandler  (NO)  135,388
Mehmet  Okur  (Utah) 132,310
LaMarcus  Aldridge  (Por)  117,508
Andris  Biedrins (GS) 98,460
Chris Kaman )LAC) 97,569

-- Jan Hubbard

No Damp?

Erick Dampier won't play tonight. He's got pretty good swelling on that left knee that he hurt against the Warriors. He still isn't sure exactly when it happened or what happened, but he thinks he knocked knees at some point.

Dampier didn't practice Thursday, but all indications from Avery Johnson were that Dampier would play. He won't.

"I thought he was," Johnson said during his pre-game media session. "Shows you I'm not a trainer. A teacher, administrator, coach, manager, but not a trainer."

Dampier said he hopes it's just a one game thing and that he'll be back in the lineup Sunday at Minnesota.

-- Jeff Caplan

Damp on Shaq: No comment

Shaquille O'Neal has said some not so nice things about Erick Dampier in the past, but unfortunately the two big guys won't be able to go after it Friday at the AAC when the Heat come to town. Shaq is injured again.

It would seem a great time, too, for Dampier who's really been playing some solid ball lately. So, would he like the opportunity to take the aging and ever-more fragile Shaq on?

"I don't have any comment," Dampier said. "I don't have any comment. All that matters is that at the end of the game we have more points than they do. That's all that matters."

Hmm, very diplomatic of you, Damp.

-- Jeff Caplan