Mavs Full Court Press

Hassell up, then down

Just when it seemed Trenton Hassell was catching on to coach Avery Johnson's system defensively as well as making his shots, he took a step back on Wednesday. Johnson did not play Hassell at all.

In a perfect world, Hassell would have been able to step right into Eddie Jones' spot as the starting two-guard, which would have allowed Jason Terry to remain in his new role as sixth man and backup point guard.

But, that just isn't happening. And in almost a desperate move to get a win on Wednesday against the T'Wolves, Johnson went against what he's been preaching and started Jason Terry. Hassell didn't get off the bench, coach's decision.

"Right now, he's still trying to get acclimated to what we're doing," Johnson said. "He hasn't played the type of defense that he wanted to and, again, his offense is coming around. So, he's still in play, still in the mix, it's just coach's decision last night. He could play 20 minutes the next game, who knows?"

-- Jeff Caplan

Hassell in again

In a guest appearance on Randy Galloway's radio show, Mavs coach Avery Johnson said Trenton Hassell, who started in Wednesday's win over the Rockets, will be back in the starting lineup tonight against the Pacers. The reason? Avery said he just doesn't like the way second-year swingman Maurice Ager, who started against the Spurs and Raptors recently, has performed.

-- Garza, Mavs Lite

Jet, Josh are Mavs' MVPs thus far, Hassell is LVP

If you believe in +/- statistics (I do), the Mavericks MVP thus far is Jason Terry.

Josh Howard has been their most efficient player, with Terry coming in second and Dirk coming in third. A big reason Josh and Jet have been so good is their field-goal percentages. Jet is shooting an exceptional .597 from the floor and .625 from three-point range while hitting an average of 3 treys per game. As a team, the Mavericks are shooting .503, which is good for third in the league behind the Celtics and Lakers.

Not so surprisingly (if you've watched the games) Trenton Hassell (19.9 minutes per game) has been less than good thus far. Coming in, he was expected to be the Bowen-esque defensive stopper that the Mavs can use to lock up the teams best scorer. According to the numbers thus far, the Mavericks have been a much worse team with him on the floor. He is third-to-last in efficiency rating and is dead last in plus-minus deficiency for when he is on the court.  He isn't contributing anything on the offensive end (2.2 points per game) and it's obvious by the plus-minus rankings that he isn't really impacting on the defensive end either. It's obvious that something isn't clicking with him, and until it does, he'll continue to hurt the Mavs when he's on the floor.

-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd