Mavericks Practice Report
Certain players have an impact on an NBA game that is immeasurable by statistics.
While Josh Howard fills up a stat sheet when he's on the court, his presence alone in the Dallas lineup means more than points and rebounds to the Mavericks.
Getting No. 5 back on the court for just his fourth game of the season, after re-aggravating his surgically-repaired left ankle, was key for the Mavericks on Tuesday night. Howard's 20-point night, while playing 26 minutes off the bench, helped Dallas edge the Phoenix Suns 102-101. But just having the swingman back on the hardwood next to his teammates was enough, forward Dirk Nowitzki said.
(Photo by Danny Bollinger/NBAE via Getty Images)
"He (Howard) looked great to me," Nowitzki said. "He was active. He didn't look like he was favoring one leg and he had some big baskets for us in the fourth quarter."
Howard scored 16 of his 20 in the second half, providing a penetrator and slasher that Dallas sorely missed while he was sidelined.
"I think Josh developed himself into a great all-around player over his career. In the beginning he was a great slasher and now he has a great all-around game. He can take a guy off the dribble, he can post up some if a smaller guy is in on him, he's a good spot-up shooter -- he hit a couple of threes last night," Nowitzki said.
"He gives us versatility offensively. He can do a lot of things. And definitely, we need another guy out there, especially in the fourth quarters to create his own shot so the defense just can't concentrate on myself and Jet (Jason Terry)."
For now, Howard is putting in more work than everyone else just to simply be able to hit the court when it's game time. Going through a full-contact practice, then undergoing treatment and conditioning exercises, Howard is putting in the work daily to get back to 100 percent, though he admits that he will have to play through soreness in the ankle for much of the season.
"It's a combination of hard work and treatment, so it's going to be an ongoing process," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "Surgery and rehab are two of the steps, and then getting back to playing is the beginning of another process. It's going to be work, but he's put in an enormous amount of time and hard work getting to the point of where he's at. Obviously, it paved great dividends for us last night as a team."
"It's important that he has some space between games, but he was out here and did all the stuff that we did. We like where he's at. And it's going to be more work, but he's going to keep working and he'll get where he needs to be."
For now the plan remains for Howard to come along slowly in a reserve role, until he is able to step back into his starting shooting guard spot. With J.J. Barea's 14-point night as a starter against Phoenix, the decision to bring Howard back slowly is a lot easier for Carlisle and the coaching staff. Playing it by ear, the Mavs also expect for Howard to see action in only 1-of-2 games on back-to-backs.
"There's no set schedule on getting him back as a starter," Carlisle said of Howard returning to the first unit. "When you start, you're going to get that extra dose of minutes, just because there's that non-stop first six minutes of the half, there's no timeouts and those minutes get eaten up real quick. We didn't want to put him in that position again. We'll go game to game, and we'll kind of see where we are with it."
Howard and the Mavericks now prepare for a weekend back-to-back, first traveling to battle the Miami Heat on Friday night, with the game airing on Fox Sports Southwest at 6:30 p.m. CT.
Dallas then returns home to host the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday, with that game airing on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.
The Mavericks and the NBA have introduced the official NBA All-Star game ballot, featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. For more on how to vote for your favorite Mavs for the All-Star game, to be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, visit Mavs.com.
Follow Mavs.com’s Earl K. Sneed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EarlKSneed.
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