→ popstarkirby:至少確定"完全好"再復出 02/14 13:10
Source: http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/1202498.html
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Dallas Mavericks difficult to measure, or to always love
Posted on Fri, Feb. 13, 2009 / By GIL LeBRETON
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Dallas— Whether you fret or fawn over the Dallas Mavericks, nothing seems for
certain.
Lose five in a row in the first two weeks of the season; win nine of 10
immediately after.
Lose to Sacramento one fortnight; defeat Miami and Orlando on the road the
next.
And just last week, having somehow again swung the pendulum in a positive
direction, the Mavericks lost Jason Terry with a broken left hand.
Without Terry in the fourth quarter Thursday night, the cold-shooting
Mavericks stumbled on what could have been their most significant step of the
season, losing instead to the Boston Celtics, 99-92.
There are no bonus points earned for nights such as Thursday, no "frequent
contender" miles awarded for taking the reigning NBA champions to the brink
of defeat in mid-February.
Measuring-stick games can be beneficial. Without Terry and with the Celtics
playing on back-to-back road nights, Thursday’s stick was destined, anyway,
to be shaped with mixed messages.
Terry himself delivered the first quasi-encouraging news before the tip-off.
"I can go tonight, but I don’t think the doctor is going to let me," Terry
said, three days after he underwent hand surgery.
The injury occurred in the nine-year veteran’s left hand, not the one he
shoots with. He’s still unsure exactly how it happened. His hand got tangled
Saturday night in the jersey of either teammate J.J. Barea or one of the
Chicago Bulls.
"It’s going to be sooner than later," Terry boldly predicted of his return.
"We’ll come back after the [All-Star Game] break and see how I am next week.
Hopefully I’ll be able to start shooting and get back out there."
His absence leaves a gaping void in the Mavericks’ bench, as the fourth
quarter would later tellingly show.
"This is not going to be easy," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said before the
game with Boston. "The effort to replace him is going to have to be
collective.
"He was having an All-Star-like season. A guaranteed 20 points off your bench
— that’s like gold in this league, especially in the Western Conference."
The Mavericks began Thursday’s game averaging exactly 101 points a game,
11th-best in the NBA. Terry was averaging 19.9.
How can they possibly replace that? Barea? Antoine Wright? Anyone?
Terry was also making his biggest dents when the Mavericks needed him most —
down the fourth-quarter stretches, when he could give opponents someone else
to worry about than Dirk Nowitzki.
It’s probably not reasonable to suggest that point guard Jason Kidd should
pick up the scoring slack. But Carlisle is going to want him to shoot more,
with Terry out.
His team, Carlisle suggested, knows what it has to do.
"It’s addressed," the coach said. "At the time it happened, we acknowledged
that, hey, we’ve got to step up.
"The people that perpetuate this kind of talk, frankly, are the media. And I
understand that, because it’s a story. We’re losing not only a great
player, but one of the compelling personalities on the team. So I realize it’
s a story."
Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on how Terry’s teammates would
weather the measuring stick — the challenge of playing without a 19.9-point
scorer came Thursday against Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and their
friends.
Times have changed since Carlisle himself played with the Celtics more than
20 years ago. Those Celtics teams featured Hall of Famers Larry Bird, Robert
Parish and Kevin McHale.
"You don’t see it the same way now," Carlisle said, "but their great players
are great. And their supporting cast fits with their great players."
The Mavericks began Thursday night with a 29-13 record since their
discombobulating nine-game start. They trailed division-leading San Antonio
by only four games.
Yet, they seem to remain an acquired taste. The inconsistencies have been
maddening for some Mavericks fans, even when Terry was healthy.
Four nights into the new year, to cite one curious example, they managed to
score only 14 points in the fourth quarter at Memphis — and lost by 20.
As February neared, however, the Mavericks began a stretch in which they beat
Golden State, Miami, Orlando and Portland.
Go figure.
But fasten your seat belts.
A victory over the reigning champs, especially when the Mavericks were
missing sixth-man Terry, might have been the catalyst that finally, once and
for all, propelled this up-and-down season.
Instead, it reminded the home team -- and its fans -- why they still seem
incomplete.
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