He may not be completely at full strength these days because of a knee issue, but James Johnson has already shown his value to the Dallas Mavericks.
When Johnson is not on the floor locking horns with whomever, he’s on the bench actively engaging with his teammates and keeping them mentally involved in the game. That’s a valuable commodity that any coach would always want on his team.
“Johnson’s given us a big lift off the bench,” Carlisle said. “He’s experienced, he makes impact plays at both ends of the floor and he’s unselfish and he gets his teammates involved.
“I still don’t think he’s quite 100% coming off that knee issue from October. But he’s getting better all the time.”
In addition to the eight points, three rebounds and two steals he collected during Friday’s 93-83 victory over Miami, Johnson was able to offer some insights into what the Heat were trying to accomplish against the Mavs. That’s because he was recently an integral part of Miami’s franchise, having played for the Heat from 2016 until they traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves 11 months ago.
In Friday’s game the Mavs also benefitted from input from guard Josh Richardson, who played for the Heat from 2015-’19.
“It helps when you have former players from those teams and they are calling out the plays before they even happen because they have been in those situations for years.,” forward Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “Just them being out there on the floor, James being on the bench talking and screaming plays out, and J. Rich making sure we are alert out there on the floor helped us out tremendously.”
Johnson, who the Mavs acquired from the Timberwolves on Nov. 27, is a huge advocate of developing team chemistry and how that can go a long ways in determining how deep a team advances in the playoffs. So, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, how is he helping coordinate that aspect of NBA life to his teammates?
“We FaceTime and Zoom,” Johnson said. “We are locked in just like you (media) guys. I think the best thing we can do for each other really is stay confined and not go outside so that we can all be with each other when it’s time to play.”
And when it came time to play Miami, the Mavs played well enough to build a 24-point lead (61-37) with 7:40 remaining in the third quarter before cruising to the finish line. That left Johnson to say: “It was a physical team and you could tell we wanted it more.”
Johnson’s penchant for being a physical player, a leader and a rah-rah player is partial what drew the Mavs to him. What he has to offer, they believe, is the next phase in getting into the championship picture.
“He’s a great spirit guy for our team,” Carlisle said. “He’s a great leader as a veteran guy. He talks to everybody, he keeps people up on the bench. He’s been a great acquisition for us.”
Mum on offense: After Wednesday’s disappointing 19-point home loss to Charlotte in which the Hornets piled up 118 points, the Mavs went back to the drawing board and wanted to make one thing perfectly clear among themselves.
And that is that they’re way better than what they were unable to accomplish against the Hornets.
The Mavs spent a lot of time in training camp focusing on defense. But they admitted that something fell through the cracks against the Hornets, and they wanted to make sure they were re-focused entering Friday’s game against Miami.
So what was the game plan against the Heat?
“We didn’t even talk about offense the last couple of days,” coach Rick Carlisle said following the 93-83 win over Miami. “We’re just talking about defense, intensity, playing together hard, effort and the importance of the details. We spent a lot of time on the details heading into this game and it paid off.”
With Mavs’ defenders in their face all night, the Heat converted just 37.2 percent of their field goals and were only 7-of-33 from 3-point range for a miserable 21.2 percent. The Mavs also won the rebounding battle, 49-41.
“The stats will show that their 3-point shooters didn’t get going and that’s because we really put forth a great effort to stay on their tails the whole time,” Carlisle said. “We won the rebounding battle, which is always going to be important because that’s possessions.
“I don’t know what the deflection count was, but it was good. We’ve got to maintain and we’ve got to sustain.”
Part of sustaining that solid defensive performance against the Heat is remembering to keep paying attention to the little details. In many cases, those small intangibles translate into the difference between winning and losing.
“In the last game (against Charlotte) we felt like we didn’t play to the fullest of our potential after beating the Clippers in LA (last Sunday by 51 points),” forward Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “So, we just wanted to come out, build on what we did in practice (on Thursday) and make the most of it out there.”
“Even though (Thursday) night was New Year’s Eve we knew we had to get our sleep – especially with the Miami Heat coming to town. They are well-conditioned. They keep their players in great shape. We had to match that intensity and more on both ends of the floor. I think it was just having that passion, never settling and keeping our foot on the gas.”
Road trip upcoming: The Mavs play their next three games on the road before returning home to host the Orlando Magic on Jan. 9. That includes playing their first set of back-of-back games of the season.
The Mavs flew to Chicago on Saturday afternoon and will face the Bulls on Sunday at 7 p.m. After that game the Mavs will hop on their charter and fly to Houston, where they’ll play the Rockets on Monday at 7 p.m. in a game televised nationally by NBA TV.
After that the Mavs will play a Thursday night nationally televised game on TNT at Denver against the Nuggets before returning home to entertain the Magic.
“All of the games are tough,” forward James Johnson said. “They are so quick, but I think we went through our tough stretch in the first three games honestly.
“It really showed where we were at and really humbled us and we’re locked in. We’re ready to get to work and the guys are always excited to come in.”
Johnson was referring to the Mavs’ first three games of the season – all on the road – against the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers. The Mavs ended up losing to the Suns and Lakers, but hammered the Clippers by 51 points.
And following a 19-point loss to Charlotte this past Wednesday, the Mavs go into the game against the Bulls following Friday’s 10-point win over the Miami Heat.
“We just got to build on this game,” forward Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “It’s a great win, great test for our guys going on the road (to play) three tough opponents. We’re going to try to go out there and win them all.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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