J-Speaks: Hawks and Mavericks Not Tanking

The Spurs are the current leaders in consecutive playoff appearances with 18. Who has the second most? The Atlanta Hawks with nine. Who besides the Spurs has the most playoff appearances going back to the 2000-01 season? It is the Dallas Mavericks, with 14 appearances in the last 15 years, which includes a title five seasons back. The Hawks and Mavericks have something else in common. They are both fighting outside influences about the fact that they are very unlikely to even have a serious say in the outcome of what happens this postseason. The Mavericks, who got off to a very slow start this season, may not even make the playoff this season. If you think for a tiny second that either of these teams is going to tank the rest of the 2016-17 campaign? Think again.

Two seasons after winning a franchise record 60 games, but falling in the Eastern Conference Finals to the now defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, the Hawks (29-21) over this past summer let then starting center Al Horford go in free agency. In a three-team trade involving the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz, the Hawks sent then starting lead guard Jeff Teague to the Pacers and earlier this season they traded Kyle Korver to the Cavs for swingman Mike Dunleavy, Jr. They even were thinking of trading leading scorer Paul Millsap.

What Hawks management was seeing was a team that started the season 9-2; then proceeded to lose nine of their next 10 games, but righted the ship and have gone 19-9 since, who overcame a 20-point fourth quarter deficit with 8:25 left on Thursday night to win at the Houston Rockets (37-17) 113-108, thanks to the Tim Hardaway, Jr., who had 23 of his career-high 33 points in the period going 8 for 11 from the field, including 3 for 5 from three-point range and 4 for 5 from the foul line. He outscored the entire Hawks team by one point in the fourth period; hit the same amount of field goals as the Hawks eight, as the Rockets shot just 8 for 23 in the final stanza, while going just 3 for 10 from three-point range and attempting just four free throws making three.

“I think when we got three straight stops and we scored on every single possession after that,” Hardaway said to ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on Thursday night’s edition of ESPN’s Sportscenter. “We saw that we were in the penalty and we just tried to keep driving to the basket every time we had a chance to and it helped us out and we came out with the win.”

Dwight Howard, in his return to the Rockets where he played for three seasons from 2013-16 had 24 points and 23 boards.

“I think it speaks to the character of the team to keep fighting until you find the right group that gave us the chance to win,” Budenholzer said after the game.  

For the Mavericks, they got off to a horrible start this season losing 13 of their first 15 games. A lot of their struggles were the fact that the likes of future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki, starting lead guard Deron Williams, his understudy J.J. Barea, guard Devin Harris and starting center Andrew Bogut have missed a total of 113 games because of injury.

With the return of Nowitzki, from an Achilles injury that kept him shelved in the early part of the season as well as the emergence of the Mavs newest additions Harrison Barnes, Seth Curry and the latest addition of Yogi Ferrell, along with the play of Wesley Matthews, the Mavericks have gone 18-17.

While the record may not be astonishing, they stand after their 108-104 win at the Portland Trail Blazers (22-29) on Friday night on ESPN stand just 2 ½ games back and just two on the loss side of the No. 8 and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, which is currently occupied by the Denver Nuggets (22-27), who won at home 121-117 versus the inconsistent Milwaukee Bucks (21-28) on Friday night.

The thinking behind these two teams in many NBA circles, particularly within the Hawks organization is the fact that as mentioned earlier, either of them being a threat to last season’s NBA finalist the Cavs or the Golden State Warriors (43-7) is a joke.

In the Hawks case, they are 0-8 against the Cavs in the postseason the last two years and they are not going away anytime soon.

For the Mavs, Nowitzki is going to be retiring likely within the next couple of years, maybe even this summer likely. There is the feeling that owner Mark Cuban should cut his losses now and rebuild the 2011 NBA champions around Barnes, who has averaged career-highs of 20.2 points in 35.8 minutes, to go along with 54 rebounds per contest.

To bring Barnes’ career season into context, the former Warrior, who helped them win the 2015 NBA title in six games against the Cavs increased his scoring average, by a +8.8, the best in the 2016-17 campaign.  

While those intentions might be good, the reality is that these two teams with how their seasons have gone, tanking is a word one word that will not be associated with either the Hawks or the Mavericks.

In the Hawks case, they signed starting center Dwight Howard to a three-year $70.5 million contract to bring him back to his hometown and to give the Hawks a legitimate chance to compete with the Cavs. He has played well for the team and head coach Mike Budenholzer, with averages of 13.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, which is fourth in the NBA and shooting 64.1 percent from the floor, ranked third in NBA.

For both of teams also, they have players who saw this season as an opportunity to prove either they earned their new contracts in the case of a few Hawks, and in the case of the Mavericks, injuries equaled opportunity for many of them and they wanted to go out and prove they were worthy of being in the league.

For the Hawks, former understudy to Teague Dennis Schroder had to prove he can be the Hawks floor general going forward and he has been solid with career-highs of 17.2 points, 6.3 assists per game on 45.7 percent from the field and 35.4 from three-point territory.

Swingman Kent Bazemore turned a career-year last season of 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds per game and a 35.7 percentage from three-point range into a new four-year contract and has been decent with an 11.1 scoring average per game, but has shot just 39.9 percent from the field and just 33.5 percent from the charity stripe.

For the Mavericks, injuries gave their latest addition in Ferrell, who been great with a 17.8 scoring average, 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals per contest an opportunity and he has taken full advantage.

Curry, the younger brother of reigning back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry has grown up a great deal and is also making the most of his chance, with a 17.4 average over his last 10 games and in 18 games as a starter this season, he has averaged 14.3 points on 45.8 shooting from the floor and 43.0 percent from three-point land.

What also needs to be taken into consideration is what message is it sending to the players that may be a part of each of the two teams going forward.

The likes of rookies Malcolm Delany and DeAndre Bembry and Hardaway of the Hawks, they are learning each day solid work habits that make up a perennial playoff participant. They are learning the ropes of the NBA from the best in Howard, Millsap, Dunleavy, Thabo Sefolosha, and Kris Humphries.

Speaking of Bembry, he guarded the leading MVP candidate in James Harden, who still finished with 41 points, eight boards and eight assists for the Rockets.

“These guys can play all they want, but what was working was DeAndre Bembry-you’ve got to give him all the credit,” Hardaway said. “He took the challenge of guarding possibly the MVP of the season, it’s a hard task, but he stayed discipline.”

In Budenholzer, these players are being coached by an individual that for years was part of an organization that was the model of what a true professional basketball was supposed to play like, act like both on-and-off the court. Above all else, the Spurs had consistent staples led by head coach Gregg Popovich; in the front office with R.C. Buford and Peter Holt and future Hall of Famers like just retired last season in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

In Dallas, they have perhaps the best head coach who has made putting together a lineup that will scrap, claw and scratch their way to a win in Rick Carlisle, who prior coming to Dallas a few years ago, was the head coach that turned the Pacers and Detroit Pistons in the early and late 2000s into title contenders. They have an owner in Cuban, who is as passionate about the game as anybody. All you need to do is look back at old clips of him arguing with game officials on behalf of his team. That is the kind of owner that never believes in tanking.

What also needs to be understood about that philosophy, it does not guarantee you of the No. 1 lottery pick in May of the NBA’s Draft Lottery.

Plus, putting the life of your franchise and fans into a player, who is essentially applying for your first job is a gamble in of itself.

Now there are a few teams that were able to win the draft lottery and draft a game-changing, franchise changing basketball player, like the Spurs did when they got No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft and selected Duncan or going back even further drafting Hall of Famer David Robinson back in 1988.

However for every Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose, Andrew Wiggins, Blake Griffin and LeBron James, there is the Kwame Brown’s and Anthony Bennett’s, who turns out to be a bust.

What it also does it creates an environment where patient becomes part of your everyday life when a young group is put together and out there trying to figure it out.

The Philadelphia 76ers (18-31) are experiencing this right now, finally reaping the rewards of their rebuild that has been coined, “The Process,” having won more games 18 than they have won all of last season.

Their lottery pick Joel Embiid, who missed his first two official seasons because of injuries is finally playing, and has been great, despite being on a minutes restriction and the fact he has not played on the backend of back-to-backs this season.

Making the playoffs is a privilege in pro sports. Winning a championship does not happen overnight. It takes going through disappointment from being swept in the opening round or losing in a series that goes the distance of seven games and it ends in Game 7 in a one-point loss for example.

That is why consecutive streaks of playoff participation of the current 18, soon to be 19 by the Spurs is something to appreciate whether it is up close or from a distance. That streak also includes five NBA championships.

When the Spurs clinch their 19^th straight playoff appearance in a row later on this season, they will tie the Boston Celtics’ streak from 1951-1969, which they captured 11 titles, led by the legendary Hall of Famer Bill Russell.

The Utah Jazz punched their ticket to the postseason for 20 straight seasons from 1984-2003, with a major of those led by the Hall of Fame duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton, and Hall of Fame head coach Jerry Sloan.

The second longest all-time consecutive playoff streak is 21 by the Portland Trail Blazers, who did it from 1983-2003, winning four Pacific/Northwest Division titles and made it to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, where they lost to the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls.

The league leader in consecutive playoff appearances in NBA history are the Syracuse Nationals (1950-63), who became the Philadelphia 76ers (1964-71) and during their run won two titles in 1955 and 1967.

Baring a major collapse, the Hawks will make it to the postseason for a 10^th straight season. If the Mavericks can win more than they lose for the rest of the year, they will make it to the playoffs for the 15^th time in the last 16 seasons, which includes the previously mentioned NBA title they won over James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat in 2011 in six games.

Are they serious threat in their respective conferences? No. However, they are teams that are trying to keep a culture of winning alive and are not allowing bad habits that can plague a team to creep in and poison their respective organizations.

The Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks are not going to tank the rest of their respective seasons away, period. End of Story.

They will play each game as hard as they can, make or in the Mavericks case try to make the 2016 NBA playoffs and give it their best shot and whatever happens will happen.

Information and statistics are courtesy of 2/3/17 11 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “Sportscenter,” with Scott Van Pelt; 2/3/17 10:30 p.m. game between Dallas Mavericks versus Portland Trail Blazers on ESPN with Dave Pasch and Doris Burke; www.nba.com/games/20170202/ATLHOU#/recap; www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/atl/atlanta-hawks; www.espn.com/nba/team/_/name/dal/dallas-mavericks; www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.espn.com/nba/statsistics; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Atlanta_Hawks_seasons; http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dallas_Mavericks_seasons and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBA_franchise_post-season_streaks.