By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      The good, the bad and the ugly of a Mavs team that went from ‘well-executed’ to ‘getting executed’ Sunday in Houston:
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      History will bunch these three losses together, the blowout at Minnesota on Wednesday, the blowout at San Antonio on Friday, and this 101-98 loss to the Rockets here.
     Certainly, to the Mavs themselves, one is as sickening as another.
      It was a tough road trip,’’ understated Dirk Nowitzki.
      The troubling issue about the Houston game, though, is that so many of the right moves were made in keeping the Mavs in this thing going into the final minutes. Eduardo Najera, for instance, was called up to lean against 7-5 Yao Ming. Despite giving up 10 inches, Yao’s 20 points in the first half were supplemented by virtually nothing more in the second half, up until the 15-second mark of the game.
      Another example of talent, strategy and execution coming together: Dallas’ defensive work. In both the zone (the only logical way to play Yao, even though it can result in jump-shootin’ Jim Jackson ending up with 29) and in the full-court press, the Mavs covered up weaknesses and fueled strengths.
      The press – usually utilized in the NBA as a desperation attempt to come from way behind – was used here to force the sometimes erratic Steve Francis into errors, used to speed up the pace of things, used to make it more difficult for Houston to set up in a half-court offense. Yao Ming, for all his attributes, is not exactly a scrambler.
      All in all, the results were brilliant. Houston was forced into committing an astounding 30 turnovers, and Dallas recorded a franchise-best 20 steals.
      That takes us to the final 15 seconds of the game, during which the Mavs executed one play well only to see it fail, and executed two other plays so poorly that they looked almost little-league-ish.
      The good: Tie score, 15 seconds remaining. Steve Nash cuts off Francis from penetrating. Najera is fronting Yao, denying him an entry pass. Francis has nowhere to go but with a fingers-crossed high bullet to Yao. The ball eludes a leaping Najera by inches and finds Yao, who is converged upon by Michael Finley, Antawn Jamison and Dirk Nowitzki. Yao’s shot falls, and he’s fouled. The free throws put Houston up three.
      The bad: Mavs down three, Antoine Walker is the inbounds trigger man from the sideline. Dallas runs its usual play here, four potential receivers weaving in half-circles. Nash breaks behind the perimeter defense as he circles toward the basket. A lob will find him – but will set him up to shoot a 2 instead of a 3, not the ideal. Walker makes a mediocre decision in choosing Nash, and then an awful decision in not lobbing the ball. The lack of touch on his pass allows for an easy Jim Jackson interception.
      Walker said later that getting the ball to Nash was the plan; if it was intended to be done to that spot, it was a stupid plan. Walker also explained that he didn’t ‘expect them to step out on (Nash),’’ a completely illogical take.
      The ugly: Continued good defense by the Mavs, a Walker 3 (on an inbounds play on which he was removed as the trigger) and some Rockets missed free throws give Dallas one more decent chance. The Mavs are down three with 2.9 seconds left and Nash has been sent to the line. He makes the first, and now must clang his second, creating an offensive tip-in opportunity for his teammates.
      The ‘clang’ works, as Nash puts it perfectly off the front rim and skyward. … Najera and Jamison are tangled with Yao. … there is time for at least two potentially fortuitous slaps toward the basket, and. …
      A whistle. Nash, the officials say, stepped over the line on his ‘clang’ shot, a lane violation that negates the attempt.
      Game over.
      Dallas initially argued that Nash did not step over the line, and Nash himself tried to invoke some physics: His shooting motion was normal, and the ball traveled a straight line at a high speed. Therefore, he couldn’t have sprinted forward fast enough to have even beaten the ball to the rim. It’s not a bad argument, really.
      Later, coach Don Nelson mentioned something about the call being unfair because Shaquille O’Neal is allowed to cross the line all the time. Well, um, not exactly. The Mavs’ protests against Shaq’s old habit finally got the NBA to notice. So the refs, whistles at the ready, now watch Shaq closely. And ironically, they now watch Nash more closely, too.
      In other words, Nellie asking for Nash to be allowed over the line because Shaq used to be allowed over the line is silly.
      What happened in Minnesota and San Antonio was a bad sign, of sorts: a good team doing so many bad things, and losing. What happened in Houston is a different sort of bad sign: a good team doing so many good things and still losing. That’s a special sort of ugly.