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What timvp said in the other thread: This couldn't have happened about 3 weeks ago?
Injured Josh Howard signals end for Dallas Mavericks
By David Moore
Special to the Star-Telegram
This is what the Mavericks feared all along.
This is what they couldn’t afford to happen.
The Mavericks’ success in these playoffs has always been tied to Josh Howard’s health. Now, it hangs by a thread with the latest injury to their most important player.
There is no way the Mavericks can beat Denver without Howard. At the moment, their odds don’t look all that good even if he returns.
"Look, our margin for error is not great, especially without Josh," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle conceded after his team’s 117-105 loss in Game 2. "But there are things we can control and do better, and we’ll have to do that going home."
The Mavericks’ fortunes are held hostage by Howard’s problematic ankles. He injured the right one, the good one, in Tuesday’s loss and will be re-evaluated today.
Howard’s stellar performance in a first-round victory over San Antonio gave the Mavericks hope. But deep down, they knew they were living on borrowed time.
The Mavericks will play their eighth postseason game Saturday afternoon at the American Airlines Center.
Howard played in more than eight consecutive games only twice during the regular season. The game the Mavericks lost to the Spurs came when he aggravated his injured left ankle early in the contest.
The Mavericks can’t outrun or outjump Denver. We know this because Carlisle reminds us at every opportunity.
We know this because you need a calculator to keep up with all of the layups and dunks the Nuggets have thrown down in the first two games of the series.
It’s 40, by the way, on 25 layups and 15 dunks.
When you are short on athletes, you can’t lose the best you have and expect to stay close to a young, athletic team like Denver.
The scoreboard said the Mavericks had a chance to tie the series entering the fourth quarter of Game 2. They were only down by three.
But the truth is the game was lost in the first quarter when Howard went to the locker room. His absence forced the Mavericks to adjust their offensive and defensive game plans on the fly.
It has already been established that the Nuggets fly much higher than the Mavs.
"Josh went out pretty early," Dirk Nowitzki said. "We definitely needed him in the second half to slash and get some easy baskets for us.
"On defense in the second half we had to play a small lineup a lot with J.J. Barea, Jet [Jason Terry] and [Jason] Kidd, so we had physical mismatches all over the place."
Howard has played fewer minutes in this series than Barea. He’s played slightly more minutes than Ryan Hollins.
Hey, I like Hollins, too. But if these two are close in minutes, you’re not going to win the series. A small lineup will get you past the LA Clippers and Sacramento Kings of the NBA world. It won’t get the job done against Denver.
"It’s my right ankle," Howard said. "It’s been sore. I tried to get through it [Tuesday], but my ankle didn’t respond the way I wanted it to.
"I’m going to continue icing and treatment, and the plan is that I will be ready on Saturday."
That’s been the plan all season. But say Howard plays. How long will he be able to perform and at what level?
"It’s a problem that’s been going on since the third week of the season," Carlisle said of managing the team with Howard’s injuries. The Mavericks are once again forced to hold their breath over Howard’s health.
The problem this time is they’re about to run out of air.
What timvp said in the other thread: This couldn't have happened about 3 weeks ago?
Donnie Nelson, where are you?
Your team needs you.
LMAO Mavs
As long as the Mavs got a good excuse BEFORE their team lost, they can always go back and say that Howard's injury is the only reason they didn't win the le.
oh well. the with that team. now i shall play my violin for them............
You know Mike we hear alot about the injuries to Manu Ginobili for the Spurs and Kevin Garnett for the Celtics but what we don't talk a lot about is the injuries to Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse for the Mavs. I mean come on, we're talking about a missing 40-50 points here. And then you have Devean George whose energy and hustle would've been valuable in this series defending guys like JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony. The Mavs are really at a disadvantage here without 3 key guys.
Even Yao has got more balls than Mister pot-smokin', national anthem hatin', mavs mascot look-alike.
The difference is the Spurs managed to win a game without Manu. The Mavs lost two games and Howard played in both of them.
Yeah, except for the fact that ing your ankle up is worse than barely bumping your knee. Why was Yao m.i.a. last game?Even Yao has got more balls than Mister pot-smokin', national anthem hatin', mavs mascot look-alike.
He wasn't MIA in game 1. Unlike J-HOrse he helped his team steal a road game.
Can you read?
I know he got taken out with 2 cheap fouls early on in game 2.
Really???
I don't think anybody expects, or expected, the Mavs to even sniff a le...
I didn't expect them to beat Denver even if Howard was healthy...
See 2003, and the "Dirk was injured" posts. If you aren't one of the individuals that thought that, then the comment doesn't apply to you. Don't act like there aren't Mavs fans who are going to go back and use the Howard excuse just like Spurs fans used the Manu excuse for Dallas whipping their ass.
Too bad, I thought Dallas was good enough to beat the crap out of the Lakers. What the , Houston's gonna do it anyways.
How many balls has yao got?
Spurs won a road game? Must have missed that...
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