Art Garcia | Mavs.com

Posted: Nov. 26, 2007

Mavericks coach Avery Johnson was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Monday for failing to leave the court in a timely manner and for verbal abuse of a game official during Friday night’s 111-107 loss at Indiana.

Specifically, Johnson confronted official Bennett Salvatore after Devin Harris wasn’t awarded a shooting and/or clear path foul with 8:34 left in the fourth quarter. Harris appeared to be in a shooting motion in midair at the basket when Pacers forward Mike Dunleavy grabbed his right arm and pulled Harris down.

A foul was called, but it didn’t result in free throws for Harris. A similar play involving Jason Terry occurred a few minutes earlier with the same result.

Those incidents were enough to get Johnson going. He charged Salvatore, breaking away from Harris and other Mavs personnel before being restrained. Johnson picked up his first two technicals and first ejection of the season.

Johnson was asked about the fine before taking on Washington at American Airlines Center. He smiled broadly and chuckled a bit, and used the opportunity to plug his yet-to-be-published book, Aspire Higher.

“In the book we have different plans like the ‘S’ plan where we talk about Standards, Systems,” he said, smile still affixed. “You have the ‘D’ plan about Dedication, Desire and Decisions. We have the ‘E’ plan about Education and Environment and Excellence. We have all of these plans.

“I was thinking though this afternoon I should call my publisher and add another plan.”

That would be the ‘C’ plan.

“In the ‘C’ plan I should have four chapters,” he continued. “One chapter should be called Conflicting Concepts, the next chapter should be called Competing Commitments, the next chapter should be called Compelling Commercials and the fourth chapter probably should be called Confused Communication.

“So I’m going to call [publisher HarperCollins] and see if they can add it in there. I think I missed the deadline.”

Obviously, Johnson didn’t want to talk about the fine directly, probably a prudent choice considering his wallet. The book, incidentally, is slated to be released in March for $29.95 hardcover. It’s meant to inspire those people at an “in between” point in their lives.

“It’s easy to write a book when you’ve won a championship or gotten a promotion, so I thought I’d try to encourage those that are in between,” he said.

Devin Harris was asked if he’s going to read his coach’s second literary attempt.

“Do I have a choice?” Harris quipped.

Back to Salvatore. The ref has a checkered history with the Mavs. At least that’s the perception. He was the official who called the “phantom” foul against Dirk Nowitzki that led to Dwayne Wade’s free throws to win Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals, giving Miami a 3-2 series lead.

Another official in that game, Joe DeRosa, was on the floor in Saturday night’s loss at Milwaukee. The Bucks went to the line 41 times. The Mavs just 17.

Perhaps it’s a coincidence. But the incidents involving Salvatore and DeRosa do raise the question once again of referee bias, especially within the Mavs inner circle. There’s certainly a level of suspicion regarding certain officials when they call Mavs games.

The NBA would claim otherwise. But it’s also no secret the Mavs haven’t had the best relationship at times with the league office, particularly executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson and director of officials Ronnie Nunn.

Falling behind: Starters or subs fault?

Comeback wins are nice, but that falling behind part isn’t as much fun. As impressive as the rallies against Toronto and Houston were last week, fighting back from 24 or 17 points won’t lead to success on a consistent basis.

Avery Johnson attributed the slow starts to his starting five.

“It’s mainly with our starting team right now,” he said. “We’re not getting the stops and getting back on defense as much. I think what’s happened is the first round of subs has actually helped us get back in games.

“Our starting team hasn’t been as effective as some of our other starting teams in the past. It’s a different year and we still have some of the same starters, but you need all five guys to be on the same page and we’re not there yet.”

Getting on the same page has proven tricky with seven starting lineups through the first 14 games. Dirk Nowitzki and Gana Diop are the only Mavs to start each game.

Josh Howard and Devin Harris have missed five games between them. Eddie Jones has played just five games. Different circumstances have led Johnson to start Jerry Stackhouse, JJ Barea, Trenton Hassell and Moe Ager at times this season.

“Earlier in the year we played our first two games without Josh, Devin gets hurt in the third game and I’ve had more of a revolving door at that 2 spot for whatever reason,” Johnson said. “Maybe that’s contributed to it, but hopefully it won’t continue to contribute to it. Once we get Eddie back, I think we’ll be able to have some stability there.”

November camp

After averaging 13 minutes in his first three games back, Erick Dampier played just 14 total in the next two. Avery Johnson said that’s nothing to be alarmed about.

“Damp is kind of in training camp right now,” Johnson said. “He didn’t have the whole month of October. Historically Damp has been here for us in training camp, so he’s still going through that period.”

Johnson added: “His minutes are going to be pretty sporadic right now. That’s just part of this whole process.”

Free-throw woes

The Mavs came into Monday second in the league in free-throw percentage at 81.8. Dirk Nowitzki, however, was down at 78.2 percent. It doesn’t sound low, but he was in the 90s the last two years. Jason Terry doesn’t know what to make of Nowitzki’s “troubles” at the line.

“I’m trying not to catch that bug,” Terry said. “ I’m wearing a mask at games and at practice, so I can stay up there in the high 80s and 90s. The only thing you can do with the free throws is worry about yourself and get the job done, and hope the other guys will pick it up, too.”