Back again but not to "finish"

The Mavs broke every huddle and ended every practice last season with the rallying cry “Finish.” Not so this time around.

It’s back to the basics for Avery Johnson’s crew.

“We’re not going with any more trick slogans like ‘Finish’ or anything,” he said. “Just want to try to stay stronger a little bit more than we did last year and learn from both of our years.”

The 2006 season ended with four straight losses in the NBA Finals. They exited in the first round in May.

“I thought we were a lot stronger the year before,” Johnson said. “Last year I didn’t see it as much. Mentally, I thought we wore down a little bit and we just didn’t have it, not even in the playoffs, but the last 10 or 15 games. We’ll try to stay strong and get back to playing that Mavericks defense like we can.”

Dirk Nowitzki agreed, saying the team did run out of gas.

“We won 67 games, but it didn’t really feel like it,” he said. “We kept stressing and kept the intensity so high and then once the playoffs came we really had no other step to go to, no other gear.

“Hopefully this year we can enjoy and really have fun with each other on and off the floor. And then it’s all about being ready in April and May. Last year when it came time for the playoffs, we weren’t on top of our game. All of us.”

Johnson is ready to get the season going Halloween Night at Cleveland.

“After our finish last year I think there was some that thought we weren’t going to show up this year,” he said, “but we’re back again and we’re excited to be here.”