Art Garcia | Mavs.com

Posted: March 10, 2008

Dirk Nowitzki is thriving with Jason Kidd. The Kidd connection looks pretty strong with Erick Dampier, too, and lately with Jerry Stackhouse. Overall, the Mavericks seem to be catching on to their new quarterback.

Josh Howard, though, is the notable exception. The team’s second-leading leading scorer is in somewhat of a funk since Kidd hit town.

“If I could really say I don’t want to talk about this I would,” Howard said Monday night prior to facing New York. “It’s just about us playing together. We’ve been playing together, but we really haven’t been playing together that long, so it’s hard to say.”

Howard was averaging 20.3 points before Kidd debuted on Feb. 20. In the first 10 games with Kidd, leading up to the Knicks, Howard’s averaged 15.7 points and shot 38.4 percent.

There are, of course, other reasons for his struggles, both physical and emotional. Howard was dealing with a sore lower back around the time of the trade. He also dealt with a couple of deaths in the family.

“I don’t want to overanalyze it,” Avery Johnson said of Howard and Kidd not connecting. “It hadn’t happened the way we wanted it to, but it will. We’ve seen some stuff on film that we think can help.

“Everybody in the world should be happy to play with Kidd. He wants to get you the ball. The more that Josh runs with vision, and keeps his eyes on Kidd at all times, I think it will happen because Kidd’s skill set is tailor made, in my opinion, for an athlete like Josh.”

Howard hopes the bond is growing with Kidd. He realizes it has to if the Mavs are going to maximize their scoring potential.

“Kidd’s the head of the snake running the offense,” Howard said. “We’ve got our MVP scoring points and that’s a good thing. We’ve got people around us, with Stack being able to come through for us.

“Guys are willing to come in and sacrifice, that’s what we need. It’s kind of like the same situation two or three years ago. We had guys that knew their roles. I think everybody is figuring out their roles.”

On the same page

The Mavs gave up 99.5 points on 44.9 percent shooting during the first 10 games with Jason Kidd, going 5-5. Points allowed were up 3.5 from the regular-season average, while the shooting percentage was exactly the same.

“We’ve really had to take a hard look at our defense, first of all,” Avery Johnson said. “We can’t give up 100-and-something points a game and be a good team.

“I thought we were slightly improved in some areas the last game looking at our technique and just getting everybody on the same page. Because if two men are thinking something different on defense, it confuses our whole defense.”

Johnson didn’t expect the transition process with Kidd, and also Malik Allen and Antoine Wright, would take this long. But that’s also become a tired excuse.

“The trade is over now,” Johnson said. “No more excuses about the trade. Now we’re all Mavericks and at some point you have to get some stuff out of your system. That’s what we’ve told Kidd and Malik Allen and even Wright, who is playing a little bit now.

“This is the way we like to do it and everybody has to get on the same page, because we can’t have the Mavericks that’s been here and some our new guys thinking two different things. That’s unacceptable now.”

Kidd agreed, especially regarding the mistakes being made without the ball.

“Coach’s principles are a lot different than New Jersey, so that’s probably the side that I’m a little bit behind on and trying to catch up,” Kidd said. “But 10 games in now, I have no excuses for making mistakes on the defensive end.”

George out and Lue on way

After leaving Saturday’s win over New Jersey with back stiffness, Devean George sat out against the Knicks. He checked out fine after visiting the team doctor Monday morning and could return Wednesday against Charlotte.

Tyronn Lue is expected to debut Wednesday if he continues to improve. Jason Kidd’s backup has been nursing a calf injury since signing with the Mavs.

“He’ll have his first action on Wednesday,” Avery Johnson predicted.