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Tickets at Ticket Master
The check's in the mail. The dog ate my homework. It's a dry heat. Pete Rose didn't bet on baseball.
And, on the list of the world's most repeated fibs, comes Don Nelson's annual
classic, "I'm not going to play them as much this year."
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At least one thing's already true about the coach's philosophy toward Mavericks stars Michael Finley, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki -- he isn't practicing them as much.
By the fifth workout of the Mavericks' training camp, Finley and Nash were absent
and Nowitzki was barely breaking a sweat Friday morning. Finley sat out his
second straight day with a slightly ticketmaster strained groin, and Nelson
gave Nash the morning off and Nowitzki participated only in limited drills.
Finley, who has missed 13 games because of injuries in each of the past two
seasons, also might not accompany the team to Mexico City for Sunday's exhibition
opener against the Utah Jazz.
"If he's not going to play, I'm not going to take him," Nelson said.
"We're just not taking any chances at this point."
The conservative approach promises to continue into the regular season, where
the Mavericks seem committed to sacrificing regular-season victories in order
to be stronger and healthier in the playoffs. In last season's playoffs, Finley
wasn't at full speed because of a late-season pulled hamstring; Nash was bothered
by a lingering hip injury, and Nowitzki missed the last two games of the Western
Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs with a sprained ankle.
This fall Nelson, the players and owner Mark Cuban have downplayed trying to
duplicate last season's magical 60-victory ticketmaster regular season. That
might translate into the Big Three resting on the bench late in December games
to assure being on the court late in May.
"We may not win 60 again, because that's really hard to do and it takes
a lot out of you," Nelson said. "It's more important for us to get
home-court advantage and put ourselves in an aggressive playoff situation where
we're all healthy and ready to go."
And although the Mavericks wore down under the grind of consecutive seven-game
playoff series, followed by the West Finals against San Antonio, Nelson slightly
decreased his stars' playing time in the regular season.
Finley averaged 38.3 minutes, down from 39.9 the previous season. Nash played
in all 82 games for the second straight year, but saw his minutes fall from
34.6 in 2002 to 33.1. Nowitzki averaged a career-high 39 minutes in 80 games.
Because of a younger, deeper roster that will allow Finley to play primarily
shooting guard, allowing Nash considerable rest in favor of back-up Travis Best,
Nelson and the Mavericks again have a blueprint for keeping ticketmaster their
record high and their minutes low. But, then again, it's only October.
"It's easy to sit here now and say that," Nash said. "But when
you get in the heat of battle you're worried more about winning games than getting
a couple minutes' rest. We'll see."