Mine isn't too bad since I am building up my tolerance with this becoming-more-frequent bad Mavericks play lately. It kind of reminds of the trashcan punch we used to drink in college. It was sickly sweet going down and made you feel like crap in the morning. After a while, though, you got kind of used to it and the hangover wasn't as jarring and painful as it use to be.
Let's take a step back. The first two months of the season, we were in love with the Mavericks. Derek Harper told me on a pre-game show that he thought they matched up well with the Lakers and that when Dallas is playing at a high level, they'd be almost impossible to beat.
After beating the Spurs on January 8, Dallas was 14 games over .500 with a 25-11 record. Since then, they have gone 7-9. Ouch. Yes, issues and injuries galore hurt this team and I think we're seeing how important a healthy Erick Dampier was the to the Mavericks but some of those nine losses were to dogs like Minnesota and Philadelphia. Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said last season that he didn't think his team handled success very well. I think that is being proven again this year.
Following Tuesday's 127-91 loss to the Nuggets last night, Derek and I discussed all the following at length on our postgame show: lack of leadership (something that has plagued the Mavericks for years), not taking a loss like that hard enough (Jason Terry didn't seem to upset in his postgame comments) and trade possibilities (lots of them).
Dallas was playing on the second night of a back to back and didn't get into Denver until about 4am the day of the game. Reason to be tired, no doubt and Terry made sure to bring it up in his postgame comments. That is no excuse to not even show up and actually play the game. The Mavs didn't have Dampier again, something they should get accustomed to, or Shawn Marion, something that's kinda frequent. They had every excuse in the book and used each and every one. Again, this is problem that has plagued this team for years.
When was the last time they showed you something? Perhaps the Cleveland game in which they beat the Cavs without Dirk Nowitzki on December 20?
You pretty much knew the loss to Nuggets was going to happen when the schedule came out last year. The thing is that the issues in the loss are disturbing. They are representative of the bigger issues surrounding this team. While I think the Mavericks need to make a trade for a number of reasons, I am not sure how much it can help. I think it could be simply band-aid for bigger problems.
Some Advil for That Hangover
If you need a little medicine to help your Mavericks hangover consider this: Dallas sits at 32-20 after 52 games. They were 31-21 at the same point last year after a 99-92 loss to the Celtics. Feel any better?
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