In case you haven't noticed, the triangle offense is all but gone.
Now it is only used a handful of times during the game.

Mavs director of scouting Keith Grant will be filling in Rick
Sund's role for the rest of the season.  Grant started with the
Mavs in 1980 as an equipment manager.  Grant would be interested
in making this a permanent change.  "It's up to (Carter), whatever
direction we need to go.  But, yeah, I've worked in the organization
for 14 years.  I would like an opportunity."  
Grant has everything going for him as he has long been a favorite 
of Carter, GM Norm Sonju, and (especially important) consultant Dick 
Motta.

I was surprised to read that a lot of the Dallas media believe
that Dick Motta may take the coaching job.  Everything that I
had read in the past year I felt indicated that he did not want
to get back into coaching, citing the pressure and the time it
took away from his family.  They also mentioned that he probably
would not enjoy a GM position (meaning drafting, trades, 
player movements - Norm Sonju does not handle the "typical" GM
role).  One article mentions that Motta told "at least two
colleagues" that he is not interested in becoming GM.  That
seems to leave either coaching or an expanded consulting role.
Motta refuses to comment on the possibility of becoming the 
next Maverick coach as it would be "ethically wrong" because
Buckner is still here.  Both Carter and Motta have stated that
they have not talked to each other about Motta's interest in
the coaching job.  So, I'll soften my stance that Motta will
not become the next Mavs coach, but I would still be surprised
(but not shocked) to see it happen.

Look for Buckner to be fired very shortly after the season ends
(I'd guess two days - Tuesday, second guess Wednesday).  Carter 
made the comparison about a patient waiting for the x-rays to 
return and it not being humane to keep him waiting long.  This is 
a dog that should have been put to sleep in December.

Norm Sonju is laying the public ground work for his GM 
responsibilities to be further clipped and for his job to focus 
on the new arena.  
"The reality is starting to hit me how much time it (arena
planning) is going to take." 
"If a new building is going to be coming, it'll suck up a lot
of my time."

The Mavs have set a new team record for steals in a season.
The old record was 688 steals by the '86-'87 team.  They 
currently have 722 steals for this season.

Dick Motta (instead of Sund) will join Keith Grant at the Desert
Classic camp for NBA draft candidates.


I don't have time to do game summaries, but I wanted to mention
a couple of things from Friday's and Saturday's games.  

Dallas 99, Denver 97

Although Mutumbo and the rest of the Nuggets were having fun
blocking shots the entire game (12 total), the Mavs had the
last laugh as key blocks were made by Legler, Harris, and
Rooks at the end of the 4th.  

Morlon Wiley has fallen out of the rotation (he still gets a
couple of minutes per game) and amazingly Popeye Jones is
getting minutes again.  Popeye _started_ and had 14 rebounds,
8 offensive, and 11 points in 34 minutes.  Doug Smith (who 
played only 14 minutes) had the flu last week so that might 
have explained the lineup change.


Sacramento 106, Dallas 98

Popeye again started and had 13 rebounds, 3 offensive, and
16 points in 36 minutes.  (Doug played 12 minutes.)

The Mavs, as often happens, lost this game in the 3rd.  They
tend to come out of the half flat.  

The best players in the arena never set foot on the court.
Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley arrived during the 3rd
quarter and watched part of the game from the stands.  (The 
Pho-Dal game is tonight.)

With the Kings up by 12 with less than 2 minutes left,
Buckner did his usual delay the end as long as possible.
He called timeout, the Kings were fouled on their next
possession, and called timeout again.  The second funniest
moment of the night occurred moments later (about 45 
seconds left) when the Kings got a T for having only 4
men on the court.  The event that left me dying with
laughter came with the shot clock off and Olden Polynice
had the ball.  Both Fat Lever and another Mav ran at him
in an attempt to foul him - and they both missed him!  The
biggest player on the court and they flew right passed
him.  They flat out missed him.  Still cracks me up.


patricia