Avery Johnson
Avery Johnson
Avery Johnsonis an American basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball team. Johnson spent 16 years in the National Basketball Association as a player, and subsequently served as the head coach of two NBA teams: the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets. He led the Mavericks to their first NBA Finals appearance and to three consecutive 50+ win seasons. During his playing days, Johnson was known as the "Little General" for his...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth25 March 1969
CityNew Orleans, LA
We've had a pretty good year up to this point. So we don't want to let all of that go down the drain because we got four guys injured.
We've had some guys out for long periods of time. We've got to whip those guys back in shape. We're waiting on (Keith) Van Horn to come back, which we think he can come back in about a week to 10 days. Hopefully, that other series will stretch to seven games.
We'll just take this victory any way we can get it. There's still another level for the Mavericks to go to. We're just not there yet.
Both of those guys are out indefinitely. I trusted some different situations (before), but now I'll bring them back when I want to.
Boy, the more you watch them on film, the scarier it gets. It's going to be a very, very tough series.
Even the times we were in their face, they still seemed to make some shots. Our season is not over ... but we know where we are going to finish now. The only thing that really matters is to get guys healthy mentally and physically.
Fifteen offensive rebounds...when did a Dallas team last do that. We put a lot of emphasis on that this year.
Everybody is asking me if I'm going to play Elton Brand 48 minutes because we play (the Clippers) Tuesday. No, none of that. Just spread out the playing time.
Tonight we needed a good start and that set the tempo for the rest of the game.
We had to get this game behind us for a lot of different reasons. We hadn't played particularly well this year against this team.
We had to get more physical on him in the second half.
We had three of our top scorers shoot 12-for-40 from the field, and that won't happen many nights. We were really fortunate to win this game.
We just made a few shots and got going pretty well. I'm happy with our hustle, I'm happy with our play, but we're not world beaters.
We just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. We're still firm that they're not going to come back until they're ready. And they're not ready. We probably won't have them back in the next game or two.