Basketball and News:Josh Howard leads Mavs over Suns
Article Summary:
Josh Howard has been struggling with a bad ankle for a long time and after a brief attempt at a comeback earlier in the year, decided to sit out until it just felt right and that healing time made all the difference
Article Content:
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
Josh Howard has been struggling with a bad ankle for a long time and after a brief attempt at a comeback earlier in the year, decided to sit out until it just felt right and that healing time made all the difference in a big victory by the Dallas Mavericks over the cooling Suns.
Dallas Mavericks 102 Phoenix Suns 101
You can tell the Suns are cooling due to a 5 – 5 record in the last 10 games. Dallas is barely better at 6 – 4, but the Mavs do not have the Lakers to contend with in their Division like the Suns do. The Mavs and Suns are both a respectable 15 – 7 on the year, but the Suns trail the 16 – 3 Lakers in the Pacific Division. The Mavs lead the much easier Southwest Division which is populated with the under achieving Rockets, Spurs, and Hornets, as well as the almost worthless but now minus Allen Iverson Grizzlies.
The Phoenix Suns may in the end be much luckier because after the Lakers the Pacific division is populated with the bottom dwellers of the Kings, Clippers, and Warriors. Not much competition there.
Dirk Nowitzki celebrated Josh Howard’s return with 33 points
So just what did Josh Howard do to help the Mavericks?
Howard was greeted with a lively ovation when he went into the game midway through the first quarter. It took a while to get his feet under him, but he scored 16 points in 15 second-half minutes when the rest of the Mavericks were struggling.
That set up Terry to make four clutch free throws in the last 12.3 seconds, then miss one intentionally, to offset Steve Nash’s remarkable 3-point shooting down the stretch and save the win.
It was Howard’s return that had the locker room buzzing afterward. He hit six of 11 shots in the second half and looked much better than he did a month ago, when his first try at a return was aborted after three games.
“It’s night and day,” said Jason Kidd. “He looks a lot more comfortable and relaxed. To be away that long, then to come back and play like this, it’s pretty impressive.”
source
Dallas plans to be careful with Josh’s ankle and he may miss a few of the upcoming games if it remains tender.
Image: Zuma Press
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As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.
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Post from: NBA Obsessed
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Tags:dallas mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, josh-howard, NBA Basketball, Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash