Heavy stuff from your probable NBA Coach Of The Year, Dallas’ Avery Johnson, pushed to the limit by coming a little too close to losing 2 straight to Portland.
“I don’t know what I’m going to have to do to get this team charged up,” Johnson said during a loud postgame news conference. “But I’m willing to do anything, whatever it takes to get us going. So I’m open for any ideas. I couldn’t even talk to my team at halftime.
“It’s 100 days to the Finals right now. This is what the NBA season is all about. It’s not when you have three days off between games. This is the nuts and bolts. Your body doesn’t feel as good, you may be fighting a little fatigue “ like every NBA team. You might have a few injuries and nobody gives a care about injuries.
“It’s 100 days to the Finals. It’s totally on my shoulders. It’s not the referees. It’s the coach. We haven’t been playing well since the All-Star break. I’m going to have to do something because what we’re doing isn’t working.”
Johnson’s press conferences are coming off like a hybrid of Herm Edwards and John “The Golden Greek” Tolos. If there’s any element of a put-on, I’m missing it. AJ’s manner (ie. he might snap at any moment) makes for great TV, but there’s something to be said for peaking a little later than early March.
Avery Johnson is the only person I’ve ever known (by, uh, watching him on TV) who speaks every letter of every word he says. If manic enunciation is a sign of an imminent snap, then he has been cruising for a breakdown for some time. Also, one of the Kings of Comedy — I’m pretty sure it’s Cedric the Entertainer — does an amazing Avery Johnson imitation at the end of the movie; it is every bit as accurate as it was totally unexpected and uncalled-for.