Mavs making run at first title… so what else is new?
"Coach doesn't like to overload us with a lot of mental obstacles, so to speak"
Avery Johnson's playing career twisted and turned, coughed and wheezed, and nearly flamed out before he established himself midway through it, eventually winning a championship.
His coaching career, conversely, has been on the fast track -- quickest to 50 wins, most wins in the first 82 games of a career, and seven wins from becoming the fastest to 150.
Yet, after a franchise-record 67 wins went up in smoke last season, even the General had to step back and, perhaps, mellow out.
Not that he's changed his stripes and become social director. But Johnson, who begins his third full season as head coach when the Mavericks play at Cleveland tonight, did decide to roll down the windows a bit on the Mavs Mobile and let some fresh air find a team that's suffered two grueling postseason setbacks. Read more