A loss against the lowly Nets would signify that the the Mavs' stellar start to the season was a mirage , while a win – no matter how ugly or lackluster – would keep Dallas on pace with the Western Conference's elite.
Dirk Nowitzki's twelve-footer finally found the twine; the Mavericks escaped New Jersey with an unsightly 87-86 win and the team, their coaches and fans could all let out a sigh of relief. The season still had a heart beat.
While the Mavs remained in the top half of the Western Conference standings, they still were unable to generate any swagger heading in to the opening game of a four-game home stand. Their opponent on the other hand, the Los Angeles Clippers, strutted on to the court oozing confidence. Yes, the Clippers came in to the American Airlines Center led by their high-flying rookie Blake Griffin and punched the Mavs right in the mouth, shot a blazing 68% and held a double-digit lead at halftime. I was hoping that Mark Cuban had dispatched his helicopter to go pick up Nowitzki at his house as the MVP candidate was completely M.I.A. The team as a whole looked old, slow, and completely disinterested; only JJ Barea and Tyson Chandler showed any signs of life and carried the team offensively.
Carlisle even went the mad scientist route and threw together an off-the-cuff lineup of Barea, Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi and Jason Terry to see if he could shake any life in to the squad. In one of the most disjointed basketball games I have ever witnessed due to an avalanche of whistles, the Clippers managed to score 62 first half points, the most Dallas has surrendered to an opponent all season.
Going in to the game's second half, it once again felt like fans' confidence in the Mavericks was teetering. Had they truly lost all of their mojo that they had before Nowitzki and Caron Butler went down or could they come up with an answer to the Clippers' brash attack?
Thankfully, a better defensive effort, combined with a slew of Baron Davis turnovers, enabled Dallas to get back in to the game quickly and eventually take the lead near the end of the third quarter. The crowd came to see Blake Griffin dunk, but instead were witnesses to a gaggle of Mavericks' flushes and Barea joyously driving Davis to revert to his brain-dead, “me-first” persona. Brendan Haywood's defense on Griffin and the rest of the Clippers' front line was a revelation, as was Jason Terry regaining his shooting stroke.
After back-to-back Nowitzki threes, the Mavs had turned a 15-point deficit in to a 17-point lead half-way through the fourth quarter. All of the angst and fury that callers that were getting ready unleash on the post-game shows was silenced as the Mavericks had finally remembered how to score – in their 10 games before the Clippers game, Dallas was averaging just under 90 points-per-game, including a game against Memphis where they only manged to register a measly 70 points. The 112 points they threw up on the Clips was their season-high and included a whopping 63 points from their bench.
With three very winnable games remaining on their home stand, hopefully the Mavericks can use the second half of the Clippers game as a spring board and get their momentum moving in the right direction.
TO BE OR NOT TO BE AN ALL-STAR
This seems ridiculous to even ponder, but should Dirk Nowitzki be an All-Star this season? Before his injury on December 27, not only was he a lock to be named to the Western Conference All-Star lineup, but he was near the top of everyone's MVP list. However, missing nine games, combined with his statistical slump since he's returned to the lineup, has taken some of the shine off his campaign.
Then there's the fact that there are a slew of All-Star-deserving forwards in the Western Conference. Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant have been voted in by the fans, and that leaves only three forward spots on the roster open. The game is in Los Angeles, so it's a virtual lock that rookie phenom Blake Griffin will take a spot. We still have Minnesota's Kevin Love, Memphis' Zach Randolph and Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge to deal with. If Nowitzki is still “walking in quicksand,” as he put it, as we get close to All-Star weekend, I say he suddenly catches the flu and lets one of the younger guys make the trip out west.
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