Forget about catching lightning in a bottle. Give up the idea that this team is better than it has shown.
It isn't.
Their second half Monday night at American Airlines Center was a despicable show of basketball. Did Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and the rest of the Los Angeles Clippers have something to do with it?
Sure. But the Mavericks simply are getting manhandled these days.
The Clippers waxed them 109-90, a day after the Denver Nuggets had beaten them in overtime.
Quality playoff team? Lottery fodder? It doesn't matter. The Mavericks can't beat any of them right now.
With four minutes to go Monday, the Mavericks had been outscored 59-25 in the second half and trailed 109-77. It was that bad.
At times like this, the Mavericks know what needs to be done. And it isn't easy.
That's why, before this debacle - which the Mavericks actually led at halftime - coach Rick Carlisle made a point to address the collective psychological condition of his team.
"
We got to stay positive," Carlisle said. "The last couple games (Denver, Sacramento losses) have been tough. (At Denver), we were one play away from the win.
"We got to stay upbeat, stick together and the next win for us is the one that could help get us on a roll. We just have to keep that kind of positive vibe going."
The next win will have to wait.
The Mavericks had to figure they were in trouble when Paul had only four points at halftime, yet the Clippers only trailed by two points.
When Paul cut loose in the third quarter, the Clippers buried the Mavericks.
Paul had 18 points in the quarter, compared to just 16 for the Mavericks. When Austin Rivers canned a 3-pointer to start the fourth period, the Mavericks had been outscored 22-3 and were down 86-68. That deficit grew to 21 a few moments later, making it easy for fans to trickle toward the exits without fear of missing anything important.
Paul had 27 points. Jordan, the big center who jilted the Mavericks last summer, had 23 points and 20 rebounds.
The Mavericks have lost three in a row and their home record now is a very pedestrian 19-14.
And their playoff positioning is bound to suffer if this keeps up.
Early on, J.J. Redick was doing his best Steph Curry impersonation, raining in jump shots from all angles and distances.
Yet the Mavericks shadowed the Clippers throughout a first half in which neither team could gather a whole lot of traction. The Mavericks opened up a seven-point lead at one stage in the second quarter, but the
Clippers ate into that quickly.
The Mavericks finished the half up 52-50, but it was more notable for the way Jordan played - and the reactions he got from the crowd.
With the intentional foul firmly in play, Jordan missed seven of his 13 free-throw tries in the first half, including an air ball that got him a serious ovation from the sellout crowd. They booed him relentlessly whenever he did anything.
Of course, there were only about 19,000 people in American Airlines Center who wished he was wearing a home-white jersey instead of the visiting Clippers' uniform.
Link : http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-mavericks/mavericks/2016/03/07/sefko-way-going-time-mavericks-find-nearest-sword-fall
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