Nowitzki is in the groove

By Art Garcia
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- If the Mavericks were a pair of pants, they would be crumpled and sitting in the bottom of the hamper after four games.

Three victories later, they're on the ironing board.

"We've stopped trying to iron the whole pant," coach Avery Johnson said Thursday. "We're just taking sections."

Progress is being made one leg at a time, with Dirk Nowitzki holding the iron. The team's MVP has looked like it during the three-game winning streak, averaging 30.7 points on 53.1 percent shooting and 9.0 rebounds. He's also hitting 96.9 percent (31 of 32) at the foul line.

"He's in more of a groove with his teammates," Johnson said.

Better spacing and feel for those around him have Nowitzki back in a comfort zone. In each of the three wins, Nowitzki has scored at least 10 points in the first quarter.

His fast starts have coincided with those of the team. The Mavs have enjoyed double-figure leads in the opening period in wins against Phoenix, Portland and Chicago.

Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse have followed Nowitzki's lead, increasing their production in the past week. They've combined for 43.7 points per game in the three wins.

"We're working better together," Nowitzki said. "The preseason was tough. We had a lot of injuries, and we couldn't really practice together the way we wanted to. But everyone's starting to get a grasp of the system we're trying to run, defensively and offensively."

Nowitzki was scoring 22.5 points in the season-opening four-game skid, down from the career-high 26.6 points he averaged last season.

"Not to say he was being apprehensive, I think he was trying to feel other guys out and trying to play with us," said point guard Anthony Johnson, one of several newcomers to join the rotation.
"We need him to be the leader, whether it's scoring and being aggressive. We just need him to go out and do what he does, and we'll adjust to him."

After Nowitzki spent another summer playing with the German national team, the coaching staff had a deliberate plan to rest him whenever possible during October. He sat out several practices and much of the preseason.

Avery Johnson had to "forcefully" get Nowitzki to take extra time off to rest and recover last season. The approach worked then, so why change it now?

"He never really missed a beat," Johnson said, referring to last season. "That's what we were trying to convince him to do, rest your body."

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