No. 5 Leading Mavs to Playoffs

While Josh has established himself as a top option on the court for the Mavs, he is usually happy to defer to veterans Dirk Nowitzki, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd when it comes to team leadership. This season with a playoff berth on the line, and reigning NBA MVP, Dirk Nowitzki hobbled with injury, No. 5 has pick up his game and accepted the burden of being the Mavs go- to guy at both ends of the floor.

"I'm trying to do it now, trying to stay aggressive throughout the whole game," Howard said. "I think we've been stepping up, we just haven't finished games like we should."

Since Nowitzki injured his left leg against the Spurs on March 23rd, No. 5 has certainly been aggressive. Over a span of seven games, he has led the Mavs with 28.3 points per game on 46% shooting, and is being rewarded for his slashing style with 58 trips to the charity stripe (8.2 per game) where he has converted 88%.

The Star-Telegram caught up with Jason Kidd to ask about Josh’s offensive impact on the Mavs:

"I think Josh understands that he's the first option," Kidd said. "It helps knowing that plays are going to be called for him and as teammates we're looking at him to step it up, and he's answered the call."

COMPOSURE
With each game critical down the stretch in the air tight Western conference, No. 5 and the Mavs can’t afford any late game mental lapses if they want to play past April. For the second time in the past five games, Friday the Show picked up a critical technical foul late in a tight game in Los Angeles. Disgusted over a foul called on him while defending Lamar Odom, Josh was called for throwing his headband to the floor in frustration. Nowitzki had to wrap him up at midcourt to settle him. Then coach Avery Johnson had a few words by the bench for his slashing swingman.

"I was talking to him about keeping his composure," Johnson said. "We've just got to keep our composure."

BUILDING A LEADER
Great players not only can score, but typically match up defensively with the opposing teams best scorer. This season, No. 5 has picked up his play both offensively and defensively, scoring a career high 20.2 points per game (25th in the NBA), while accepting the defensive assignment of the leagues top scorers on a nightly basis.

"It may not be time for him to feel comfortable putting himself in the quote-unquote leadership [role], but he understands that he has a huge responsibility," Johnson said of Howard. "He respects the leadership that we have on the team, but he knows what his role is for us and a lot of nights it's to be our best player and to be a leader."

PLAYOFF RACE
After stumbling late in Friday’s game against the Lakers, No. 5 and the Mavs used a 27-9 fourth quarter run in Phoenix to pull out a crucial victory over a playoff bound team. The win, coupled with Denver's loss at home to Sacramento on Saturday night and Golden State's loss to New Orleans Sunday morning gave the Mavs a two game cushion over the 9th seeded Warriors, and a 1.5 game lead on Denver.