RealGM

Defining plays are different than highlights. And in an NBA team's season, they are harder to come by.

It's even harder to pinpoint them when they happen. Usually, it's weeks or month later when everybody can look back and say that was a critical juncture.

So it may be too early say anything meaningful happened when Jerry Stackhouse got hammered on a drive to the basket, didn't hear a whistle and still held his composure.

But Avery Johnson hopes it did mean something.

On the play Friday against Indiana, Stackhouse hit the deck hard. Then, on the inbounds play, he took a pass and sank a jumper to get the last laugh, doling out high-fives that nearly took a few arms off on the run to the locker room.

"First of all, I liked that Stack didn't get a technical," Johnson said. "That was a time when he could have easily gotten a technical. But I liked that he kept his composure in that situation.

"But that's also one of those plays that you practice with two seconds left, and they may come once every 30 games. To get a chance to use it in a game and it actually works, that's very satisfying."

Stackhouse said he's cognizant now more than ever about the need for comportment on the court. No team among the top seven in the Western Conference can afford to lose a key player, even for one game, the way the race is so jumbled.

And it's something Johnson has not had to say twice.

"Not with this team," he said. "They understand how important games are at this point. Stack earlier in the season probably would have taken a shot at somebody. But we can't afford to lose him right now. He wasn't weak because he backed away from a fight. He was smart."

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your_dallas_mavericks wrote:As long as he builds a pool and continually dives in it (swish, swish, swish) that'll work!

jwa1107 wrote:how much better is this team that Stack was not gone for 30 days?