Steven M. Sipple: Ex-Husker Strickland sticks to business with Mavs
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Erick Strickland tosses out a boxing analogy to explain the style the Dallas Mavericks must play in order to subdue the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
It goes something like this: The Mavericks need to play in the manner Muhammad Ali used against bigger and stronger fighters. The Mavs can beat the Heat with quickness and intelligent gamesmanship. Bottom line, the Mavs need to force a fast-but-controlled tempo, get their share of easy baskets and wear down the older Heat players.
Make 7-foot-1, 330-pound Shaquille O’Neal run the floor, Strickland implores.
And then pounce.
“The Mavs need to run and run often,” Strickland said from Dallas, where the former Nebraska and NBA player now works in the Mavericks’ front office. “Shaq can wear down.”
I called Strickland because Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t taking my calls this week. Plus, Strickland has long been a hoops aficionado. The immensely athletic guard from Bellevue played nine seasons in the NBA (the first four in Dallas), finishing his career in 2005 with the Milwaukee Bucks. He averaged a career-high 12.8 points per game with the Mavericks in 1999-2000.
He said he does a lot of schmoozing nowadays working in the Mavs’ marketing department. As manager of business relations, he represents the team in dealings with corporate entities and helps ensure the franchise maintains a good image in the community.
He has considered getting into coaching. However, “Right now’s not the time,” said the father of two. “I want to make sure I’m there for my children.”
He’ll be in American Airlines Center in Dallas tonight, watching what he hopes evolves into an up-tempo affair.
Dallas is a versatile outfit. The Mavericks outmuscled San Antonio and outran Phoenix when both playoff series were on the line.
Against Miami, “The Mavs are going to have to mix it up and pick their spots and understand when it’s time to run and when it’s time to play possession basketball,” Strickland said. “They’ve already done a very good job of that. But they need to make sure they make Shaq run on every opportunity they can, on made and missed shots.”
Miami, of course, also features guard Dwyane Wade, one of the league’s top five players. If Strickland had his druthers, he’d stick blossoming Mavs star Josh Howard on Wade.
“Josh is long in body type,” Strickland said of the 6-7 Howard, a graduate of Wake Forest. “If Josh doesn’t maintain a relative closeness to Dwyane — and Dwyane is able to create space — Josh can still bother and challenge Dwyane’s shot with his length. He also can bother Dwyane’s (dribble) and keep him from getting into a rhythm.”
Strickland, of course, was a cat-quick and disruptive defender, a three-time member of the All-Big Eight defensive team. The 6-3, 215-pound Strickland said he would’ve tried to defend the 6-4, 210-pound Wade by constantly changing looks.
“I would’ve been in and out on him — sometimes on him, sometimes off,” Strickland said. “He’s quick enough that he can shoot past you. He’s strong enough that he can hit you with his body. But being just as strong as him, I would want to make sure I body up to him and stay as close as I could on all of his moves. I definitely would’ve made him go more left than right.”
Miami, of course, must deal with the extraterrestrial Nowitzki, the 7-foot German who has arrived as a mega-force this postseason. Strickland anticipates the Heat using Udonis Haslem and perhaps James Posey — a pair of 6-8 forwards — to guard Nowitzki.
“Antoine Walker really can’t do anything with Dirk,” Strickland said.
Meanwhile, Howard’s emergence on offense has taken pressure off Nowitzki and confounded defenses.
(OK, Strickland has me convinced ... I’ll say Dallas in six).
Strickland clearly is enjoying the Mavs’ first trip to the NBA Finals in the franchise’s 26-year history. It’s utter mayhem in Dallas this week, he said.
In the 1990s, Dallas was a franchise to be pitied. Then, 6½ years ago, loquacious billionaire Mark Cuban bought the team and changed the mind-set, Strickland said. Former owners treated the franchise “like it was a fun toy,” Strickland said. Cuban treated it like a fun toy, but with a business mind-set and an emphasis on winning, Strickland said.
“He came in and made the players feel good, and guys began to start laying it on the line,” Strickland said.
Interestingly, Strickland no longer gets the itch to play.
“The body starts to wear,” he said. “You have training camp, and then 82 games, and you’re on the road. Yes, I still enjoy competition. But I’ve turned that competition into golf.”
With some schmoozing in between.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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