Kleeman's Jumphook: Ageless Mutombo, Manu Magic, Mavs vs. Lakers and More

When you see the Kleeman's Jumphook tag, prepare for a hodge-podge piece. I throw these together when I want to write about several topics under one umbrella.

The following quote from jazz great Elvin Jones (notice I don't call him a drummer, which he was, and a revolutionary one at that) could easily apply to basketball.

"I always believed that anything worth doing is worth doing well."

Here are a few thoughts on Dikembe Mutombo, the Ginobili-less San Antonio Spurs, Ron Artest, the frazzled state of the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons' recent runs.

How Old is He? The Ageless Wonder Swats Away Wrinkles For Another Youthful Performance

I would love to know how he does it. Dikembe Mutombo, that is.

Maybe he's 42 like he says. Maybe Charles Barkley is on to something with those over-the-hill wisecracks. Maybe not. 

Deke's age did not matter Monday night.

The NBA's finger-wagging philanthropist played 24 minutes, his most of the season, and helped key a 95-84 Rockets win in New Orleans. He grabbed six rebounds and blocked three shots.

In the best sequence of the night, he ran from the weak side to swat a David West attempt into the first row.

It might as well have been the early 90s for the agleless Mutombo. He looked as spry and mobile as ever.

He chose to resign with the Rockets over the Spurs and Celtics after sitting out the fist half of the season.

Daryl Morey wanted some veteran insurance at the five spot for the playoffs and in case Yao missed some games with an injury. Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady couldn't handle leadership roles, so they begged him to come aboard their sinking ship again.

Not coincidentally, Yao missed the contest with the flu. Mutombo could not replace the 7-6 center's production, but he helped Carl Landry and Luis Scola do some nice patchwork.

Landry hauled down several key rebounds and forced a jump ball late in the fourth quarter. Von Wafer poured in 12 points and Scola dropped 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Scola has been one of the three top rebounders in the Western Conference since the All-Star Break and his hustle makes any game worth watching.

This road win is big for several reasons. It assures the Rockets at least a tie with the Hornets in the season-series. That last matchup is at Toyota Center in a few weeks. I like the Rockets chances of winning that one on their home court.

The Monday win leaves them just a game and a half behind the San Antonio Spurs for the second best record in the West.

After winning three of the last four away from Toyota Center, the Rockets are one victory away from a respectable .500 road record. While 17-17 is far from great, it is something on which this team can build.

Back to Mutombo for a second.

I have tremendous respect for a guy who plays all of 20 minutes in nearly two months with a team and then turns on his jets for 24 long ones against the squad with perhaps the best defensive frontcourt in the league. From five minutes here or there to starting against New Orleans, this guy is amazing.

Shouldn't Mutombo be at Bingo night? Did he miss his supper at the old folks home?

All age jokes aside, here's looking at you, Deke—the center who has still never committed a foul in his life.

No No Ron Ron: To Shoot or Not to Shoot

I will say this about Ron Artest. You never appreciate how hard he plays until he's doing it for a team you support.

You can't judge his competitiveness by watching him in a few nationally-televised contests.

I knew he went hard. I didn't know it was this hard.

Unfortunately, Houston fans have unearthed the enigma that is Ron Ron. For all that his toughness and fire can do for a team, his shot selection and affinity for running his own offense can be equally damaging.

In the Rockets past four games, Artest has made only four of his 27 three-pointers. He is shooting 40 percent from the field, his lowest career mark.

He missed all nine of his treys in Monday's game and clanged all eight tries from behind the arc against the Lakers last week.

He has not destroyed the locker room, but in too many games, his ball stopping, pop-a-shot act has crippled the offense.

As Artest discovered Monday night for the umpteenth time in his first Rockets campaign, good things happen at the basket. When he attacks the rim with ferocity and gets the opposing bigs in foul trouble, he is a valuable perimeter-to-post scorer. When he pitches a tent behind the arc and starts mindlessly hoisting trey after trey, he shoots the team into the abyss.

Artest shot a sizzling 57 percent from three-point land in his first eight to ten games after the All-Star break. That's the problem. When one of his bad shots goes in, he convinces himself that all of them will.

I love Artest as a spot-up three-point shooter. He probably bags better than 50 percent of his treys when he catches and shoots. He cannot be shooting better than 30 percent when he tries to create his own looks with defenders in his face.

I have seen his best and worst performances live.

The best: Teaming with Shane Battier to hold LeBron James to a horrific 7-21 shooting performance and the first assist-less night of his career. The Rockets beat the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers 93-74.

The worst: With the Rockets hanging on for dear life against the league-best Lakers, Artest decided to trash talk Kobe Bryant in the fourth quarter of a 102-95 loss. Bad idea.

Ron Ron should know as well as anyone that Bryant is not someone you taunt in a tight fourth quarter. He is the one player Artest cannot intimidate.

Bryant summed up his monster 37-point night, in which he dropped 18 in the fourth quarter with Artest on him, perfectly. 

"It wasn't a battle. I kicked his ass."

The bigger issue with Artest is that even in that big win over Cleveland, he was 5-15 from the field. He fancies himself on the same level as Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Bryant. He can be an above-average second or third scorer on a great team, but he's not close to those guys.

Fran Blinebury and Jonathan Feigen, the Houston Chronicle's NBA writers, have both said they would not resign Artest (if given the option) for all of the reasons listed above.

I now understand Feigen and Blinebury's reluctance.

If the Rockets ink him to a long-term deal, will his bad habits become so commonplace that it becomes a regret? Will he behave himself and be a stand-up teammate when he is not playing for a several-year contract?

He will likely want three to five seasons at $10 million a year. However, I want to reserve that kind of judgement until after the playoffs.

As much as I have ranted about his flaws, I still think he can do a lot in the playoffs for a team that has needed more testicles. He gives the Rockets an aura of physicality they have lacked for so long.

If the Rockets escape the first round, I hope Daryl Morey resigns him. I would welcome him back, given his thick skin and back-down-to-no one approach to the game.

However, I have a not-so-simple request: could you cut down on the bad shots, buddy, and promise to never yell obscenities at the league's best player in a fourth quarter, again?

Thanks.

Spurs Aren't Magical Without Manu

The good news about the Spurs 78-76 loss to the Thunder: Oklahoma City made just 35 percent of its field goals. That paltry shooting performance will help the Spurs continue a much needed surge up the field goal defense standings.

Less than two months ago, they were 20th in the category Gregg Popovich believes is most indicative of a team's defensive ability. They have moved up to the 11th spot and should crack the top 10 by the end of the week. In the last 12 games, the Spurs have allowed opponents to shoot just 40.9 percent, the best mark in the NBA.

The bad news about the Spurs 78-76 loss to the Thunder: A team that hopes to compete for another championship lost to lottery-bound Oklahoma City. Losing to the woeful Thunder is not a smart idea.

The Spurs lost to the Seattle Supersonics 88-85 on last season's Rodeo Road Trip. To say they have struggled to put away Kevin Durant in his house, whether Key Arena or the Ford Center, would be an understatement.

Durant popped off 25 points in what would become his squad's 19th win.

While this loss is not quite as embarrassing as the Mavs' lowly performance in Oklahoma City a few weeks ago, it still stings.

The Thunder built up a 21-point lead on the Mavs and coasted to victory without Jeff Green and Durant.

At least the Spurs lost to the full-fledged Thunder and never trailed by more than four points.

Why did they blow 17-point and 11-point leads despite outshooting the Thunder and outrebounding them by three?

Tony Parker was the only Spur who could consistently put the ball in the basket. His last second three-point heave skipped off the rim.

It would take several pages to accurately describe how caustic the Spurs shooting was. Maybe Michael Finley or Roger Mason, both of which never found any offensive rhythm, should have thrown up that last shot?

Two things are obvious: Tim Duncan is mired in one of the worst funks of his career, and the Spurs miss Manu Ginobili.

In ugly games like this, Ginobili can be special. He can provide that creative spark that none of the other scorers, save Mason and maybe Parker, can. Monday night, the Spurs dried up offense could have used one of Ginobili's signature stepback triples or one of his twisting drives to the hoop with the contest in the balance.

His ability to draw fouls would also have proven useful. The Thunder attempted nine more free throws and missed only four. The Spurs clanged five of their 12.

It is officially time to sound the panic alarm. Popovich says he will start worrying if Ginobili is not practicing with the team by Thursday.

Why wait two days to freak out when it is obvious that Finley cannot be expected to produce like an All-Star for the rest of the season?

The Spurs need Manu Ginobili if they want to be special.

With "El Contusion" on the sidelines again, the four-time champions looked ordinary.

In the team's win over the LA Lakers in January, Ginobili scored 27 points. He scored 19 points and nabbed the game-sealing steal in the team's signature road win, at Boston.

The Spurs 88-85 win in Houston on Saturday was impressive, but how many upper-echelon teams can the Spurs expect to beat without Ginobili?

Even the best offensive teams slosh through proverbial mud a few times in a season. The Spurs are not one of the best offensive teams.

Ginobili's absence could not come at a worse time. Duncan is shooting a mere 40 percent since the All-Star break, with a 15-point average that has knee soreness written all over it.

A hobbled Duncan and Parker will only take the team so far. Brent Barry said the Spurs lost the Western Conference Finals last year because they had the "Ma" but not the "nu."

When will they get him back? It is fair to wonder.

Oh, and turn off that alarm bell. The Spurs play the scary bad Al-Jefferson-less Timberwolves tonight at the AT&T Center.

If they somehow drop this game, then, by all means, sound the alarm again.

What team can the Dallas Mavericks beat in the playoffs? It's not the Lakers.

Quit laughing for just a second. Pretend that the answer to this question is not obvious. "Um....no one."

Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry both told reporters after the team's 107-100 choke job in Los Angeles Sunday afternoon that they are confident the Mavs could hang with the Lakers in a playoff series.

Really, Dirk?

They won't win any games as an eighth seed if Nowitzki continues to let his assigned man work him over like a deranged rodeo clown at a massage parlor. He cannot defend anybody on the Lakers.

He also can't shoot.

His 6-20 disasterpiece in the Mavs' latest loss dropped his field goal accuracy in the season series to 34 percent.

As much as I want to credit Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and the other Lakers' big men for shutting down Nowitzki's high-octane jumpshooting game, I can't.

Is it that hard to bottle up a predictable coward who refuses to consistently attack smaller defenders?

Sunday's loss re-exposed everything you should already know about the vapid Mavs. Nowitzki would be a fine second option on a championship team, but as the designated best player and leader, he stinks when the pressure rises.

He has scored a grand total of two points in three fourth quarters against the Lakers. The Mavericks blew late leads in all of the games and lost by seven points.

It should surprise no one that Terry and Nowitzki would say such an absurd thing after another choke job. These same guys welcomed a first round matchup with the inexperienced New Orleans Hornets.

How did that work out, again?

Josh Howard's lethal scoring game was missed Sunday, but it would not have made a difference in the final score. This team isn't disciplined, tough or courageous enough to win a playoff series.

The Mavs only hope is to draw a matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers. I would pick the Mavericks to win that series in five or six games.

Even if they beat the Spurs two years ago in the conference semifinals, do you want Jason Kidd on Tony Parker with no help defense?

Parker scored 37 and 32 points against Kidd in the teams' latest two bouts. That 37-point beast of game, a 93-76 Spurs win, came with Duncan and Ginobili in street clothes.

The Mavs have no answer for Yao Ming or Pau Gasol. They can't win in hell, er, Salt Lake City.

How about a rematch of that 2008 first round series? Jason Kidd on Chris Paul with no help defense. Dirk Nowitzki getting pushed around in the fourth quarter by David West.

On second thought, if I were Rick Carlisle, I would pass.

The problem for the Mavericks: they would need to crack the West's top four to even sniff a matchup with the Blazers. After giving up 119 points in Golden State in a loss and 107 in a meltdown against the Lakers, does anything lead you to believe this team can win enough games in a row to move up?

The Spurs, despite a loss to the Thunder, are still the Spurs. The Rockets just beat the Hornets on the road without Yao Ming. The Nuggets play the fewest .500 clubs of any squad in the hunt for a top four seed. The Jazz have enough home games and road contests against weaklings to at least hold on to the sixth seed.

I hate to be Debbie Downer for hopeful Mavericks fans, but the numbers more than speak for themselves.

A few other things...

I have to toot my own horn here in regards to some earlier comments about the Jazz's winning streak.

In one stretch, 11 of the 12 teams they faced at Energy Solutions Arena had played the night before. That means 11 teams had to get on a plane after a game and play in the league's toughest environment the next night.

I normally do not question the scheduling, as all teams face brutal stretches, but that's beyond ridiculous.

The Nuggets, Lakers, Blazers, Rockets and Mavericks (twice) all lost in Salt Lake City after playing the night before. I would love to know the record of teams playing in Utah on the second night of a back-to-back. Even the worst Jazz team in the last 20 years had to have won 80 percent of those contests.

If the Jazz finish ahead of any of those teams by a mere few games, that scheduling quirk will have played a big role.

Before fans take this as a low blow, let me explain two things.

1) I respect the Jazz for staying in the race despite a rash of injuries. I have no sympathy, however, as both the Rockets and Spurs fought similar ailments to their star players.

Every time I think about these three teams' injury bouts, "Suicide is Painless" pops into my head. For those who don't get the reference, that's the name of the M.A.S.H theme song.

2) Utah fans are some of the most devoted followers of any sports team in any country. Take my rant about that scheduling quirk as a compliment. It means you have the best home court advantage in the NBA.

If the Memphis Grizzlies had enjoyed the same home streak benefit, it wouldn't be an issue. The stale FedEx Forum is half-empty every night, and the team plays as badly there as it does on the road.

The Jazz are a different bunch at home. They could win a championship if they played all of their games there. That brings me to the reason for this final thought.

The Atlanta Hawks edged the Jazz last week at Phillips Arena and the Orlando Magic whacked them over the weekend by 18 points.

If you look at the team's abysmal road record coupled with the advantage it has enjoyed at home, can you say with impartiality that this edition is any different from the one that lost in the Western Conference Finals two years ago?

Paul Millsap is a more complete player and Kyle Korver has added some perimeter shooting (he's hitting a career-low from behind the arc this year), but that's about it.

The Rockets and Mavericks have no business seeing this team in the first round. The Lakers would not want them until at least the second round.

With Deron Williams at the helm, the Jazz will always be dangerous. However, until they fix their sucky road mentality, they won't be champions anytime soon.

Also...

Has anybody else noticed how much better the Pistons have played sans Allen Iverson?

I called it right after the Billups/Iverson swap. With no Iverson in the mix, the Pistons defend with energy and move the ball in the same way they did during those Eastern Conference Finals runs. It is no coincidence that every important player from those teams is shooting a better percentage since an injury shelved Iverson.

This is not an indictment on the small guard's talent. He has plenty of that.

Leadership, the ability to facilitate and take on a lesser role for the good of the team? Not so much.

Iverson is a likely first-ballot Hall of Fame selection, while most give Billups no chance of enshrinement in Springfield.

Billups has proven a more dependable and trustworthy teammate than has Iverson. His leadership can make even the most immature of scoundrels appear poised, and he wins more than Iverson.

Funny how that works.