[Dallas Morning News] Bradley must disrupt Yao, Rockets, but can he rise to occasion?

[Dallas Morning News]Bradley must disrupt Yao, Rockets, but can he rise to occasion?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/11446739.htm

Posted on Wed, Apr. 20, 2005





Bradley must disrupt Yao, Rockets, but can he rise to occasion?

BY GERRY FRALEY

The Dallas Morning News


DALLAS - (KRT) - The Mavericks' first-round playoff series has the usual cast of bright-light supernovas: Dirk Nowitzki for the Mavericks; Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming for Houston.

Then there is the player who can make the difference.

Shawn Bradley.

Stop laughing. This is serious forecasting stuff here. :


Bradley really is important to the Mavericks' immediate future.

Against the Rockets, Bradley can complement starting center Erick Dampier against Yao better than any other NBA backup. Bradley has bothered Yao in matchups of the league's tallest (7-6) tallest players.

For the entire playoffs, Bradley can cause enough shot-blocking havoc to push down opponents' shooting percentages.

It's all up to him.

If Bradley justifies receiving 10 to 12 minutes of playing time per game in the free-form rotation, the Mavericks will be a challenging playoff team.

A year ago, Bradley played only three minutes in the opening-round playoff loss to Sacramento. Now, he is the "X" factor on this team.

"He's made a difference," coach Avery Johnson said.

The coaching change from Don Nelson to Johnson changed Bradley's standing.

For nine seasons with the Mavericks, Bradley has been the automatic punch line to get a cheap laugh. Blame that on Nelson, who became disenchanted because Bradley could not meet unreal expectations.

When all else failed, Nelson could always blame Bradley.

The in-season switch to Johnson brought Bradley back from the land of the living dead. Johnson accepts Bradley for what he is - a role player who can be used in small but strategic doses to help the defense - and makes the most of that.

Since the moment he replaced Nelson, Johnson has barked about defense. The Mavericks have responded with playoff-caliber defense.

Bradley has played a significant role in that rise.

It's true.

Look at the last 17 games, all with Johnson as coach, going into Wednesday's meaningless regular-season finale at Memphis.

In that span, only one opponent made as many as half its shots with Bradley in the game: Portland, which was 11-for-20 during a blowout loss. For those 17 games, Mavericks' opponents had a 38.7 shooting percentage with Bradley in the game and a 43.7 shooting percentage with him on the bench.

That is a significant difference in the Mavericks' favor.

The debated plus-minus statistic also comes into play here.

Plus-minus can be hard to decipher because the quality of teammates and opponents at the time are difficult to factor into the number. Plus-minus can be twisted into any shape.

In this case, the basic number makes an important statement.

For the last 17 games, the Mavericks had a 63-point advantage with Bradley in the game and a 108-point advantage with him on the bench. That says he is contributing rather than dragging down the club as deadweight.

"But he has to be consistent," Johnson said. "He can't play like the all-time shot-blocker in world history for one game and play like me in the next game."

That has been a legitimate career-long complaint about Bradley.

He can, at times, play as small as the 5-11 Johnson. Bradley's focus can drift. He will vanish.

Johnson saw that coming recently and responded not with a public rip but playing time. In consecutive games against Memphis and Seattle, Bradley had one minute of playing time and the dreaded "DNP-coach's decision."

Bradley responded by coming out of the funk. In Tuesday's loss to the Mavericks, Seattle shot 40 percent with Bradley in the game and 47.9 percent when he was out.

Nelson kept Bradley on the shortest of leashes, burying him after one bad possession.

Johnson has shown more patience. Bradley gets more time to prove he is into the game, but there is a limit at playoff time. Johnson will go with Bradley for four or five possessions before judging his fitness for that game.

"The rope is longer, but it's still there," Johnson said.

The more Johnson can use Bradley, the better chance the Mavericks have of slowing Yao's improving low-post game.

Yao had the highest shooting percentage (55.3) and scoring average (18.4) of his three-year career this season. Possibly unnerved by having to look an opponent in the eye, Yao did not handle the ball as well when matched against Bradley.

For 43 minutes and 21 seconds with Bradley on the floor, Yao had six turnovers. If Bradley keeps disrupting Yao, this series turns into a Maverick romp.

---

?2005, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.