Josh Howard to start vs. Sonics

Josh Howard is back in the starting lineup tonight and he’ll play without any minute restrictions. The same won’t be true for Dirk Nowitzki, who logged 40 minutes in last night’s loss at Portland.

“It was a good test for him,” Avery Johnson said, “but we don’t want to get him that high if we can avoid it.”

If there was any thought that Nowitzki was pushed hard last night, Johnson explained that the reigning MVP will have to play 40 minutes in the playoffs, so this was a good time to see if his ankle could handle it. Nowitzki recovered fine.

Jerry Stackhouse, as expected, is inactive tonight.