The center of attention for many Maverick fans tonight will be the condition of Dirk Nowitzki’s sprained ankle.

I don’t want to hear it.

It’s playoff time. Injuries happen. Don’t you think San Antonio wishes it had a fully healthy Tony Parker and a 100% ready-to-go Manu Ginobili?

At this time of the year there are NO EXCUSES! That’s been the message of Avery Johnson from the moment he took over as the Mavs Head Coach. He’s transformed the Mavs from a group of whiners to a club that offers no excuses. Oh, the fans, and particularly #1 fan Mark Cuban, still focus on bad calls.

Avery Johnson refuses to use officiating or injuries as a crutch. That stuff happens at this time of the year. Championship teams play through it. That does not mean that an injury to Dirk or any other player of consequence won’t affect Dallas. It’s just that Avery doesn’t want his club looking for an excuse to lose.

If the favored Spurs are ousted from the NBA Playoffs, will Eva Longoria go down in history as basketball's Yoko Ono? That and nine other grab-baggy thoughts as we find a seat for Monday night's San Antonio-at-Dallas Game 4:

9: They beg. They plead. They whine. Look into Tim Duncan's sad wet eyes, and look into his huge wet palms, facing up, in "Brother-can-you-spare-a-dime'' beggar position. Watch Timmy an the rest escort referees up and down the floor as if they are zebra herders.

The overt message: The Spurs never foul anybody. The covert message: If they lose, it won't be the Spurs' fault.

A key play late in Saturday's Game 2, a 104-103 Mavs victory that puts Dallas up 2-1 in the best-of-seven over the defending champs: Dirk Nowitzki drives the lane, his foot lands atop Duncan's, the ball goes up, Dirk goes down, the whistle blows, Duncan exits with his sixth foul, Mavs win.

"He didn't fall into me," Duncan said in his postgame press conference. "He didn't touch me, I didn't touch him. He tried to draw contact, I moved out of his way. If he stepped on my foot, he stepped on my foot. There was zero contact."

Nice try, Yogi Duncan. The two players' feet collided AND there was zero contact?

8: Another start for the kid, Devin Harris, and another high-velocity, high-wire act. A career-high 24 points in Game 3 after scoring 20 as a surprise starter in Game 2, and if confidence counts for anything, he'll be an acrobatic threat Monday, too.
Where exactly is that confidence now, kid?

"Sky high,'' Devin said.

A fitting way to say it, given how the frail-looking youngster plays so up there at the rim.

7: Jerry Stackhouse wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line. That's a good thing. Now he's just to remember what to do with the thing.

Remember Game 1 in SA, when the Mavs were down 2 and Stack inexplicably passed on an easy game-tying shot to instead attempt a highly difficult game-winning shot that missed badly? He suffered another brain cramp in Game 3, when he was supposed to eat clock by intentionally missing a free throw by clanging a shot off the rim. Instead, he fired the ball against the backboard (no rim), meaning the play is dead, and SA was allowed one more possession.

"In however many years of basketball I've played, I don't think I've ever been told to miss one before," said Stackhouse, a career 81.8 percent free throw shooter. "I guess next time I'll just try to throw it on the rim a little bit."

No, better yet, next time, Mark Cuban, with all that high-priced sideline personnel, needs to make sure one of them is a brain masseuse.

6: All the previews said the brilliant Gregg Popovich would "countermove'' Avery Johnson's decision to insert Devin into the starting lineup. Pop's countermoves included starting the worthless Brent Barry, asking more from the worthless Michael Finley, giving minutes to some guy who looks like Fabio, and benching his second-best player, Manu Ginobili.

Brilliant, Pop. Manu finished with 24 -- but only after resting in mothballs for the first half of the initial quarter.

What's the countermove for Monday, Spurs? Brining Duncan and Parker off the bench, too?

5: Dirk had suggested that AAC fans "boo'' ex-Mav Michael Finley. And while I believe a little something was lost in the Germglish translation, y'all certainly took him seriously.

Every time Fin entered the game, he was showered with hoots. Now, what Dirk really meant was that fans should quit embracing ex-players, that visitors should be made to feel uncomfortable in "our house.'' But, whatever. It worked.

Boo away.

4: When teams are tied 1-1, the winner of the ensuing Game 3 in a best-of-seven has gone on to win the series 75.5 percent of the time. So if you're a betting man. ...

3: Nothing against Tim Cowlishaw. Except that the point of his weekend column previewing Game 3 was to suggest that Mark Cuban cut down on the "crazy fan'' act and go low-profile because of the possible distraction to/affect of his team.
Well, yeah, except:
A) Why would Cuban be viewed as a distraction NOW, after having done his thing his way for the entirety of this century? and
B) If the DMN columnist wants him to be low-profile, why does the DMN columnist keep writing about him?

2: In public, coach Avery Johnson continues with the respectful approach. But behind the scenes, there is no question that AJ has his people believing they are simply accomplishing what they should be accomplishing. There are observers who guess that Dallas might still wonder, might still doubt, might still be intimidated. ...

Wrong.

The Mavs believe NOW. The Mavs think the "process'' is coming to fruition NOW. The Mavs think they are as good -- no, better -- than the Spurs NOW.

1: Admit it. The Mavs' playoff life flashed before your eyes, didn't it?
When Nowitzki went down -- holding one of his notoriously bum ankles -- this whole postseason hung in the balance. Said Dirk on Saturday: "I rolled it pretty nicely. I rolled it once I planted. That's usually where you have all of your weight on your leg. I'm probably going to stay up all night and ice it and ice it some."

By Sunday, Nowitzki was resting at practice, planning on playing, and ordering up more ice.
Hey, I've got an idea: Dirk's got the ice. So if Timmy likes his whine not at room temperature but instead, chilled, he knows who to call. ...

     The story involves good-guy Avery Johnson, leader of a Mavs team in the middle of a fun title run. And some uplifting tales from Louisianans displaced by Hurricane Katrina. And a neat trick pulled off by your Dallas Morning News.

     The trick: a big media outlet swallows an old, dog-eared news story whole (maybe even having read the story in a smaller outlet), stores it in its bloated belly for a period of gestation, and then regurgitates it later. ...
     And announces proudly that it has "broken the story.''
     This is about Avery Johnson. And Hurricane Katrina. And not a story that the Dallas Morning News "broke,'' but in fact, "re-broke.'' Re-birthed. Regurgitated.
     While taking a breath between Mavs-Spurs playoff games, we begin at the end, with a well-crafted piece by Barry Horn on coach Johnson's efforts to help Katrina victims from his native New Orleans. Avery, as the world continues to learn, is a fine person with a huge heart. Horn is a fine feature writer who knows how to tap into the emotions of the reader.
     But more, somebody at the Morning News is well-versed in the aforementioned "swallow-and-regurgitate'' trick.
     Check out the headline: "Avery's Biggest Assist.'' File that away.
     Check out the "nut graph'' that suggests that the DMN is "breaking'' this emotional story: Seated in the Mavericks' offices in the bowels of American Airlines Center last week, Mr. Johnson flinched when the words were repeated to him. He remains torn. He has avoided public discussion of Katrina's effects on him. ...
     And another line from the article: "Largely untold have been tales of Mr. Johnson's compassion for those trying to rebuild after Katrina. ...''
     Wow! The Morning News seemingly has unprecedented access somewhere in the arena's mysterious "bowels''! And more, the paper has produced a lengthy and in-depth feature story on an issue that Avery had previous "avoided public discussion'' of! With "stories of compassion'' that have previously gone "largely untold''!
     Exclusive! Exclusive! Read All About It!
     But wait. ... It seems like this isn't the first time we've heard of this story, isn't the first time we've heard Avery talking passionately about the subject, isn't the first time, even, that we've read this exact same headline. ...
     Oh, yeah. Now I remember. Because months ago, Avery conducted a press conference on this very subject. In front of everybody. The Star-Telegram was there, all the TV stations were there, DallasBlog.com was there. Hell, Eddie Sefko of the Morning News was there.
     And it so happens the Dallas Observer was there, too. All at the scene at American Airlines Center that day. But not just in the seemingly inaccessible "bowels'' of the place; no, we were all there on the sidewalks and in the hallways and in the seats, looking on as Avery cheered up and cried with displaced Louisianans who were now living at the arena.
      In the Observer appeared this article that covered that day. Scan it, and then note the date.
      Sept. 15, 2005.
      The Dallas Morning News' "exclusive'' from last Sunday is actually nine months old. Rendering it, well. ... not exclusive.
      Will anybody remember the Observer's coverage of the same story nine months earlier? Nah. The big boys pull this fast one all the time; ESPN rewrites daily newspapers' stories and then claims "exclusives'' of its own -- and in many cases, has the balls to charge you 40 bucks to read them. It's a weird twist on the old journalistic concept of getting the news first; nowadays, sometimes, the LAST guy to write the story wins. Especially if he can manage to be the last and the loudest. You watch: Eventually this spring, ABC or ESPN or TNT will probably notice, and maybe reference, the Morning News' version of the touching AJ tale. ... the "largely untold'' tale (not counting all the dozens of outlets that "told'' the tale nine months ago).
      This pretense is one of the ways the monster media outlets remain monstrous.
     Swallow. Regurgitate. Claim credit.
     The Morning News does, however, get one bit of credit for its new version of this old story. The News' headline is "Avery's Biggest Assist.'' The Observer's headline was "Assist, Avery.''
     So at least the paper changed a word.

The Spurs, as we’ve already detailed, have distinct matchup problems with the Mavericks now that Devin Harris has replaced the offense-less Adrian Griffin in the starting lineup. But the Spurs have one other problem that has nothing to do with the Mavericks.

They’re hurting!

Star guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili simply are not healthy. Were they healthy, San Antonio could cause problems for Dallas at the other end of the floor to counteract their defensive matchup problems. But Ginobili especially looks nothing like the star guard he’s been the last few years. His body won’t let him be that aggressive, often wreckless pinball that destroys opposing defenses.

Now that Dallas has made their lineup change, the key man in this series becomes Ginobili . If he can’t be that 17-20 points a game player, the Spurs are in real trouble in this series.