Avery needed Dirk to be a warrior!
5 05 2007His admiration was obvious.
Still, the more Avery Johnson raved about Baron Davis, the more you wondered if his comments were meant as a rebuke of his star.
“I mean, how special was he?” Johnson asked. “You’re talking about a guy who refuses to lose. You get a player like that who refuses to lose and has a big heart … he has a lot of heart and strong willpower. Really strong willpower. I had that sort of willpower, but I just wasn’t that good.”
Johnson identifies with Davis, the point guard who willed Golden State to one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.
He does not identify with the Dirk Nowitzki he witnessed in these playoffs.
The purpose here is not to drive a wedge between the two or manufacture a dysfunctional dynamic. Johnson and Nowitzki are professionals and quality individuals. They will always treat each other with respect.
But the two are as different as Cajun fire and German ice. Nowitzki’s response to the Warriors challenge was so passive, so foreign to how Johnson approaches these moments, it’s unrealistic to think there won’t be fallout.
What did Johnson say when he called out his forward before Game 5? Johnson chided him for becoming discouraged too easily. He reminded Nowitzki that he was a star, not a role player.
The Mavericks coach told the media that while he wasn’t as talented as some during his playing days, he still did all he could to impose his will on the game. Johnson didn’t accept defeat or what defenses did to him.
Nowitzki accepted what the Warriors did to him. Golden State wanted him to become a passer, and he did. Golden State wanted him to give up the ball at the first sign of a double-team, and he was only too willing to comply.
Warriors coach Don Nelson not only reduced Nowitzki’s impact on the series, he chipped away at the forward’s confidence.
Johnson is all about confidence. How difficult do you think it is for him to accept a team that won 67 games during the regular season and a player who made a strong MVP push losing their confi- dence at the first sign of trouble?
What bothered Johnson most in the moments after Thursday’s elimination is that his team lacked confidence.
“We just got rattled,” said Johnson, who was careful not to criticize Nowitzki. “And that’s not good.”
Could Avery Johnson be any more fixated on myself? I think this is the begining of the end for Avery. He seems to prefer to talk about himself rather than saving these type of comments for behind doors! I think the team will very quickly lose respect for him. Maybe Avery should be talking about how bad he was and how Don Nelson used him as a whippin’ boy to get back at Mark Cuban!
This lack of maturity from the front office all the way down to the coahing staff is why the MAVs are going to continue to struggle in the playoffs!
NBA Refs Suck