Is It Time to Panic Yet?

Last night, the Mavs lost to Houston 113-98. That was their 4th loss in the last 5 games and all four of those loses came against teams the Mavs would see in the playoffs…IF they make the playoffs. I gotta say, right now, I’m not sure if they do. Dallas is now 2 games out of the 9th spot in the West.

Maybe I have been over rating this team. However, with the exception of a few players, this is primarily the team that went to the Finals 2 years ago and won 67 games last year. This is primarily the team that 2 years ago was hungry and played very hard on offense AND defense…just last year! But now? This is now a team that doesn’t look like it has the stomach for a fight. It looks like a soft team that is very content with taking 20 ft. jump shots, not getting to the foul line and not playing defense. In other words, they look like they have reverted back to the type of team when Nellie was coaching them. What is going on with this team?!?!?!? They seemingly have little to no interest in driving to the basket. I don’t know if they are afraid to or just too lazy. But either of those is not good. That is exactly how they lost in the Finals 2 years ago.

I’ve been sitting here trying to rationalize this. I’ve been trying to talk myself into believing this is just a slump and to just give it a little more time. I told myself that Dallas didn’t have Dirk last night and certainly he would have scored more than 15 points which would have been enough for Dallas to win. I’ve told myself that Houston is the hottest team in the league right now…17 game win streak…and that even without Yao they are a very good team. I’ve told myself that in the recent losses to San Antonio and L.A., the Mavs hung tough and could have beat BOTH teams had the ball bounced there way a couple of time during those games. However, I think all of that are just excuses.

I really thought Dallas would win last night. Dallas was playing at home where, before last night, they had lost only 3 games all year. The Mavs, over the last few years, have played very well against Houston and I expected that to continue last night. And, as I mentioned above, Houston is without Yao for the rest of the season so I thought that this would be the game that they come back down to earth. There is NO excuse for the Mavs not winning last night…absolutely none.

I am on record as being in favor of trade for Jason Kidd. I still am on board with that. I don’t think he is the reason for this. But something has been amiss all year with this team. The defensive intensity is almost gone…especially interior defense. Last night, the Rockets shot 54% from the field and pretty much did what they wanted to do all night. Dallas hung tough for a half but then Houston went on a 13-3 run in the 3rd quarter which is where Dallas let the game slip by. If Dallas continues to play defense like matadors and somehow manage to make the playoffs, it will be a quick exit in the 1st round.

I’m a big Mavs fan and will continue to be one however it is painful to watch this team under perform when I KNOW they can play better. I NEVER thought Dallas would be struggling to hang on to the 7th or 8th spot in the West. This is uncharted territory for the Mavs since their resurrection in 2000-2001 season. If this isn’t panic time, it’s getting pretty close to it. The Mavs have now painted themselves into a corner where they must win their next 5 games (all against sub-par Eastern conf. teams AND 4 of those 5 are at home). They can’t afford even 1 loss to any of those teams.

Can Dallas turn this thing around? Certainly. This IS a good team…I still believe that. But they must believe it. I don’t know what Avery has left in his bag of tricks but he needs to empty it right now. He’s got to find a way to get back that edge the team had which carried them to the Finals 2 years ago. If he can’t find a way to get that back, then unfortunately he may not be around as coach much longer.