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Posted on Sat, Apr. 26, 2008

Jet gives the Mavs new life with, of all things, defense

By RANDY GALLOWAY

Star-Telegram staff writer

DALLAS -- Jason Terry, was that really you?

Better yet, who was the impostor in the Chris Paul uniform?

For one night anyway, this series suddenly became a different bowl of gumbo. For a change, Paul wasn't in the mix. Terry definitely was, even leaving Mr. Paul with an empty dish.

After the Dallas Mavericks dropped to down-and-out status in Louisiana, an under-fire Avery Johnson departed New Orleans three days ago with this vow:

A different Mavericks team would show up for Game 3, a contest that basically amounted to a last stand for Avery as the coach here, and a last chance for his club to avoid national laughingstock depths.

Avery called it. This was very different. Mavs by 97-87 was a temporary answer to all that had ailed this team in the first two road disasters.

It didn't take a basketball Einstein to figure out why Friday night was a one-eighty. Paul had to be slowed, somehow, some way. And in a rather strange move, Avery gave that assignment to Terry, not exactly known as a defensive glove man.

The sixth-man situation for Jet ended, as he was in the starting lineup and chasing Paul. Instead of the outside traps that had not worked, the Mavs also changed to a more aggressive defensive rotating system in the paint, shutting off what had been a mother lode area for CP3.

All this stuff worked perfectly. Terry was effective defensively on the perimeter, and once there was penetration, Paul was denied his paint playground.

Remember, you heard it here first:

If Paul goes 4-for-18 the rest of this series, the Mavericks are on their way to the second round. Go ahead, e-mail me with your amazement and admiration, but admittedly, I didn't exactly figure on Terry being an answer to helping contain Paul.

"I thought Jet was highly motivated. He had a lot of energy, and it takes a lot of energy to attempt to guard Paul," said Johnson, who also added, "We didn't shut down Paul. He missed a lot of shots."

With Game 4 on Sunday night looming as large as this one, Avery was being cautious in accepting or giving out praise for snuffing the little big man. Wisely so, you'd have to say.

But as Byron Scott, the Hornets' coach pointed out, "I wasn't surprised what they wanted to do with C.P. They shut off the drive on him and forced him to take jump shots.

"Terry is probably their best energy guy. And like we expected, they came out with a Game 7 mentality. An energy guy like Terry in the starting lineup helped them in that area."

Scott made his lineup switch to answer what Avery did, quickly bringing in backup guard Jannero Pargo, who logged 32 minutes. Scott had previously declared Pargo his defensive stopper for Terry.

It's funny how things worked out. Pargo became the only consistent offensive weapon, bombing for 30 points, almost a point a minute. But Terry got his jump shot untracked in the second half and ended up with 22 points himself, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

It was also Jet's 3-ball with 99 seconds left that iced a game the Mavericks were having trouble putting away. The No. 1 star in this victory was definitely Jason Terry, even as Dirk Nowitzki continued his strong series with 32 points, 19 boards, six assists, two blocks and a mean attitude on both ends of the floor.

"Dirk played great," said Scott. "You could tell he was really into it, right from the start. But he's a warrior. He comes to play every night. On this night, they outworked us. They were more aggressive."

The early frown that formed on Paul's face was an indication things weren't going well for him. For two games in New Orleans, he wore a smile that lit up half of Louisiana. That smile went dark the entire evening in Game 3.

"He's a great player, and you aren't going to stop him," said Terry. "We were just trying to make it as hard as possible, contest his shots, and see what happens. Mainly, you try to limit the guys around him."

The bonus was Paul missing 14 of 18 shots, but David West and Peja Stojakovic also went a combined 10-for-32.

For Avery, this was a welcome victory that even went beyond the series situation. Within 24 hours of tipoff for Game 3, the coach was also dealing with two different cases of verbal malfunction within his ranks.

Veteran Jerry Stackhouse, an Avery favorite, delivered a public rip job on Scott, calling him a "sucker." Then, five hours before Friday's tipoff, Josh Howard somehow decided it was a good time to go on the radio and voluntarily offer information on his smoke of choice in the off-season.

None of that made good sense, but, hey, many an NBA type also will say neither did Jason Terry putting a defensive hammerlock on Chris Paul.

The win temporarily ended huge concerns for the Mavs, but by Sunday, it will be desperation time again.

Randy Galloway can be heard on Galloway and Co. 3-6 p.m. weekdays on ESPN/103.3 FM.