By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      Kiss me, I’m Irritated.
      My personal St. Patrick’s Day Massacre began early Wednesday, when I woke to a phone message from the great Mavs broadcaster Bob Ortegel, whose five-word offering to my machine was not subtle:
      ‘Don’t underestimate the Atlanta Hawks!’’ Ortegel yelled into my phone. And then, click.
BLOGMAVERICK – BY MARK CUBAN
      Dear Coach O: Do you ever get sick of never being wrong?
      Dallas’ sieve-like defense was the culprit later that day, as the Hawks – on the second night of a back-to-back, playing with a six-man rotation, showing up for games now only because golf courses aren’t open at night – built a 26-point lead and then hung on for a 111-110 win over the Mavs.
      Costly? Yeah. The Mavs – desirous of moving up from the No. 5 spot in the West and fearful of slipping – have 15 games left. Eight of those are on the road. Teams like New Jersey, Indiana, Sacramento, Memphis and Houston loom on the schedule. There are losses in there somewhere, losses that will be easier to justify than this one.
      As Dirk Nowitzki said, "It's pretty embarrassing. They toyed with us. This is such a big loss for us. We're trying to get the home-court advantage in the playoffs, and to lose to Atlanta at home, it's just inexcusable."
      American Airlines Center fans booed early and often, knowing that Atlanta simply has no way, on paper, to hang with Dallas. The explosive offensive tandem of Jason Terry and Stephen Jackson can break down a defense, but those two guys alone shouldn’t be enough.
      Yet just as was the case in these teams’ other meeting (also an Atlanta victory), the Mavs had no defensive answer for Jackson, who scored 31 points in the first half and finished with 36.
      The Mavs went man-to-man in the first quarter and Jackson wiped ‘em out. They went zone in the second and Jackson found wide-open spaces all over the floor. They tried Michael Finley against him, they tried Marquis Daniels against him, they tried Antawn Jamison against him. … and went 0-fer strategically.
      “He was the hot man going into the game,’’ coach Don Nelson said of Jackson, who is averaging about 30 points per over his last six games. “We told everyone he was hot. ... We were never close enough to him. In the second half, we got it and had Antoine Walker on him, then Jamison on him to deny him. We were more aggressive and it worked a lot better.’’
      But, Nellie added, “All of us were way too passive.’’
      Kiss me, I’m Inconsolable.
      The Mavs did assemble a trio of back-into-it runs, all in the second half. They closed the third quarter with an 11-3 run, and in the fourth, they scored 10 straight points to make it a game. And then there was Steve Nash’s leadership in the final minutes.
      And that’s where Dallas’ superiority and its urgency should’ve kicked in.
      It came down to a final play, four seconds left, the Mavs down by one. Nash took the inbounds pass off a screen, obviously intent on driving inside and drawing a foul.
      The luck o’ the Canadian?
      Maybe there was contact by defenders Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw as Nash drove left and shot from 10 feet, but there was no call (and no real argument from the Mavs). The shot went awry, and the Mavs had still another of those ‘inexcusable’ losses.
      “We've got no one to blame but ourselves,’’ Walker said. “We made a great effort in coming back, but we were one shot short.’’
      One shot – not counting the other seemingly billion shots Dallas missed on the way to the loss. And not counting the seemingly two billion Atlanta made.
      Dallas was down 69-44 at the half after allowing 40 first-quarter points, contributing greatly to yet another loss to a poor team. The Mavs are now just 17-9 against sub-.500 clubs.
      The busting of a nine-game win streak at home isn’t the only unfortunate news the Mavs have received. There is also the league’s disapproval of the club’s attempts to lure Golden State player Avery Johnson to Dallas as a coach for the playoffs. And there is the news of owner Mark Cuban being fined $10,000 for those ‘bounty’-like comments directed at San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen.
      Of course, those two results only affect the future and the pocketbook. This loss affects. … well, everything.
      "We deserved to lose and we did,’’ said Nelson. “Maybe we'll learn from it. This will hurt us in a lot of ways."
      Kiss me, I’m Irked.