Last hurrah

Josh Howard: he's a basketball retard

The Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Hornets play game 5 tonight, which will more than likely be the final game for the team this season.

First off, everyone's making a big deal out of yesterday's players-only practice. So, zero hour before the biggest game of the season, what is Avery Johnson supposed to tell these guys? Don't settle for jumpers and drive to the basket? Rebound? Move the ball? Play defense? Contest shots? It's clear to everyone in the world what the Mavs should do to win, but it's clear they have no interest in doing it. So Johnson might as well sit at home and play Nintendo.

What's most striking is how shocked everyone is. Listening to the radio and talking with fans, it's still surprising to a lot of them how bad the Mavericks are playing and how well the Hornets are playing.

For one, what the hell do the Hornets need to do to get some respect? They can accumulate good free agents and draft one of the best players on the court today. They grow together and win the Midwest and 56 games. They have an MVP candidate, two nice frontcourt players and a veteran who shoots threes and free throws with an acute deftness.

It's two weeks into the playoffs, and you guys are still waiting for the other shoe to fall?

This New Orleans team is really good and as long as health keeps a status quo, they're going to be good for years to come. It's insulting and folly to think this team is a joke or some mirage that we expect to disappear like a fog when the sun rises. There is no mistake or fluke with this team. You don't fluke into the No. 2 seed in this Western Conference.

As for the Mavericks, I'd like to ask what everyone was watching during the regular season that made them think anything would change in the playoffs? What did you see to think that by game No. 1, this team would undergo a sea change and morph into a good basketball team?

Josh Howard's struggles, for one, just didn't crop up. Granted, he began the season well, when the shots were going down. Since, he's been in a funk. Whether it's his grandma dying or an injury or his good bud Devin Harris getting traded, no matter, he's sucked really bad. And all those should affect someone, or anyone who's human. But athletes must rise above it. It's the nature of the business.

Nonetheless, remember two years ago in the NBA Finals. It was game 3 or 4 I think and it was the third or fourth quarter, pivotal point in the game. Gary Payton -- who was 110 years old at the time -- gets the ball beyond the arc, pump fakes and gets bone-headed Howard to jump, Payton runs into him and gets three free throws. Dumb mistake by a young guy and we all said collectively, "He'll learn. He'll get better." Forget points and rebounds, Howard hasn't gotten smarter. His basketball IQ is really low and has been since he's been in the league.

But the aura around this team has been dark all season. It was foolish for anyone to think it would change because things like that don't happen. Good teams can stumble a little into the playoffs, but I don't think there's been a moment this season where we all said the Mavs were one of the best teams in the league. And for anyone to think differently now or later is stupid.