Josh Howard made his triumphant return to the Mavericks against the Phoenix Suns, showing the Mavericks what they were missing without him, and reviving a team that was reeling from a two-game losing streak in which they looked increasingly stale on offense.
But Josh Howard didn't start the game, where last season he was the NBA's second-leading scorer in the first quarter. Instead JJ Barea provided that spark, and Josh came off the bench to provide the points.
And this leads us to an interesting question: What is Josh Howard's role?
It's a question that I was asking myself as soon as the Mavs acquired Shawn Marion, another small forward. When it became clear that Howard wasn't going to be ready to start at the shooting guard on opening night, we wondered what exactly his role would be.
He seemed to answer that when he made his first return, but it lasted all of two-and-a-half games, and a funny thing happened to the Mavericks: They kept winning.
It's clear the Mavs can win without Josh; the wins might be ugly and harder to come by, but they can win without him.
In his absence Jason Terry, JJ Barea, Rodrigue Be ...
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Article written by Alex McVeigh
Move Over, Jason Terry: Josh Howard Is Mavs’ New Sixth Man
December 10th, 2009 by Alex McVeigh Leave a reply »
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