(AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

When Avery Johnson took over as the Mavs’ head coach four seasons ago, he made it one of his top priorities to help the team shed their reputation as being ‘soft’.  Generally speaking, he’s been successful, as the painfully witty Irk Nowitzki jokes began to recess and even Charles Barkley ceased to constantly berate the Mavs for their lack of toughness.  Now the question has become, “What is Johnson going to do to help the team shed their reputation as ‘that team that always melts down in the playoffs?’”.

For two seasons, it was easy to diagnose the cause of the team’s postseason demise.  In 2006, it was a referee-induced meltdown.  In 2007, more so than drawing a hot Golden State team, it was the Mavs’ inability to get going again after playing a month’s worth of meaningless games.  Which brings us to 2008.

As someone who has followed the Mavericks as closely as anyone this season, watching the first four games of their first round series against New Orleans has left me in a state of disbelief.  The team that has taken the court starting with the second half of Game 1 has been wholly unrecognizable compared to the team that had built some solid momentum heading into the playoffs.  And the most frustrating part of such repulsive play for any Dallas fan in this series has to be the seeming lack of an explanation for such a poor performance.  Surely the media will say the team has been distracted by the attention Josh Howard’s comments induced prior to Game 3, which is entirely ludicrous.  To me, it comes down to a couple of things…

Josh Howard
Most detrimental to the Mavs’ cause has been Howard’s no-shows in every game so far.  Josh has put up some staggering shooting performances, and not in a good way.  For sake of kicking myself while I’m down, they are: 15-58 FGM-A, good for 26%, including 1-8 on three’s.  The important thing to remember here, though, is that this isn’t an out of the blue slump.  Howard hasn’t been the same since the Kidd trade, and that unintended consequence has only been magnified in the playoffs.  As excited as Dirk was to play with Kidd, Josh was probably equally distraught at the notion of playing without his good friend Devin Harris.  Prior to the trade, Howard was the Mavs’ fast starter, averaging between eight and nine points in the first quarter, and even though Harris might not have put up the assists that Kidd does, he knew how to get Josh the ball where he wanted it, when he wanted it.  Howard just hasn’t found that sort of chemistry yet with Kidd running the show.  This effect had been culminating for the last thirty games of the regular season, but has been significantly exaggerated in the playoffs due the shortened bench and the increased defensive pressure on the team’s top three scorers.  This is the sort of thing that is OK for me to notice now, but one would’ve hoped that Mark Cuban could have been more forward-thinking in this sense with regard to the Kidd trade.

The Bench
Historically, one of the Mavericks’ biggest strengths has been their bench.  Even going back to all the series versus the Kings between 2002 and 2004, one of the media’s favorite subplots was ‘the matchup between the two best benches in the league’.  But when I can come back from the bathroom in the second quarter to a lineup featuring Jason Terry, Malik Allen, Brandon Bass, Juwan Howard and Eddie Jones, something has clearly gone amiss.  If only it were 1999, that would be a pretty formidable lineup. Unfortunately it’s 2008, and without fail, the Hornets have made a run after Avery’s first mass substitution in every game thus far.   Bass deserves a lot of credit, and fortunately the Mavs have him locked down for another season.  But considering the significant drop off further down the bench, the Mavericks had to get more out of Stackhouse to stay competitive in this series.  Instead, Stack decided to pull a Howard, and has shot an identical 26% from the field in four games so far.  At least he provided me with some good Monday afternoon reading material with these colorful comments about Hornets coach Byron Scott.  According to my sources*, Stackhouse’s sense of rhythm is particularly sensitive as far as NBA players go, and has been since his days at North Carolina.  If the Mavs’ are interested in extending this series beyond Tuesday night, Stack has to rediscover his offensive touch off the bench.

At this point, it seems impossible for the Mavs to live down their recent playoff history.  But a strong performance Tuesday could at least delay the seemingly inevitable renovation the team is primed to undergo this offseason.

*I don’t really have any sources.  I think I read this somewhere?