It's Time for Mavericks Coach Avery Johnson to Deliver

Maybe, but those minuscule positives have been engulfed by the reality of a deteriorating, flawed team that, honestly, isn't fun to watch. (Nellie's Mavs never won a title either, but in 2003 I witnessed them score 83 points in a playoff game's first half.) The Mavs won only 51 games. After last Saturday's 12-point defeat, they had lost nine of their last 11 playoff games including seven consecutive on the road. They are a team whose only identity is the head coach's irritating habits of burning ridiculously early timeouts, calling plays on almost every offensive possession and criticizing his team ad nauseam for settling for jump shots.

At some point—this point—you blame the coach and his message as much as the players. Johnson, the cagey ol' point guard-turned-control freak, couldn't develop Harris, can't coach Kidd and is supervising a sad regression in Howard from do-it-all Scottie Pippen to set-shot Michael Finley.

Again, the season is still salvageable, but if the Mavs don't beat the Hornets, they'll end the season as a franchise that hasn't re-invigorated its fans, doesn't develop young players and is led by a coach who's crashed from high throne to hot seat.

If you watched Game 1, the prognosis can't be good.

As they did in getting torched by Wade and Golden State's Baron Davis, the Mavs refused to aggressively trap the ball away from the Hornets' best player, Chris Paul. Where was the half-court pressure that flustered Paul in last week's regular-season finale? They played without competitive fire and didn't try enough zone. They again relied on an offensive scheme based on isolations instead of allowing Kidd to freelance on the fast break. Where were the post-ups for Kidd to make Paul expend energy on defense? I sometimes get the feeling that Johnson coaching Kidd is like Bobby Knight put in charge of the Harlem Globetrotters.

In retrospect, Dallas' best moment of the season might have come when Dirk Nowitzki nailed a scintillating, game-winning 3-pointer that beat the Utah Jazz and clinched the playoffs. The play came on a possession when Johnson had no timeouts. Go figure.

Avery Johnson is a great person. He sends players' wives Christmas gifts, baby-sits Jerry Stackhouse's son and his Aspire Higher self-help tome is a best-seller.

But now it's time—past time—for Avery Johnson to be a great coach.

Or else.