By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
      “We were terrible,’’ said Mavs coach Don Nelson.
      “What’s the difference?’’ said Grizz coach Hubie Brown.
      And there – in two accidentally related takes from the coaches of the clubs dueling for the Nos. 5 and 6 spots in the West – you have a summary of where Dallas and Memphis stood midway through the weekend.
FISH ON RADIO: NOW STREAMING!
DB.COM BOARDS
SONICS NEWS
SONICS-MAVS BOX
      Brown’s opinion was specifically in regard to the injury woes of standouts Paul Gasol and Bonzi Wells. Hubie has resisted pushing them back into the lineup down the stretch because he doesn’t see any difference between finishing 5th vs. finishing 6th.
      Also, when Brown said of his 50-win team, “We’ve accomplished all our goals,’’ well, that’s different than the noise you hear out of the Dallas locker room following Saturday afternoon debacle in Seattle.
      What’s the difference? For a Mavs team that has been surging – seven wins in a row, 117 points per game, 50-percent shooting in each outing – maybe the 119-99 loss to the non-contending Sonics can be labeled a fluke.
      “Games like that happen,’’ said Nellie before changing gears a bit and becoming less tolerant of the outcome. “Marquis competed. … Marquis, Jamison and Walker competed, but nobody else basically showed up,’’ Nelson groaned. Nash and Nowitzki. … were not good. I might as well have given them the day off like I did (the injured) Finley. Had I sat out the whole Big 3, we probably would’ve had a better chance to win.’’
      That’s an unfortunate indictment of a Nash/Nowitzki tandem that has been the centerpiece of Dallas’ rebirth. But here, they deserve it. Nash went almost the entire game before even scoring, finishing with two buckets while being outdone by rookie point guard experiment Luke Ridnour. Nowitzki was just as awful, finally hitting 3 of his 15 shots.
      Said Nelson, mindful of Dallas once trailing by 25 in the third with those two on the bench: “We got it down to 11, and I put Steve and Dirk back in. … and right away, (Seattle) got it back up to 20. … My two best players were my worst two players tonight.’’
      Wasted was the work of Antoine Walker (with one of his most effective defensive games of the year to go with 19 points), Antoine Jamison (22 points, 10 rebounds) and especially rookie Marquis Daniels. Daniels continues to win Nellie’s heart with inspired work on both ends of the floor, most notably here with his extremely smooth 33 points.
      “It’s too bad that Marquis had such a great game and we blow it,’’ Nellie said.
      Does a loss matter? Hubie Brown is right in saying it doesn’t, because when it comes to the standings; there is no controlling who will be at Nos. 3 and 4, so there is no use worrying about the positioning of respective opponents at Nos. 6 and 5. … of is that only true for a team that has “accomplished all our goals’’?
      Does a loss matter? Don Nelson is right in saying it does, because his team is fragile enough to need every edge (including momentum) it can get.. His team has lofty goals. His team has lofty abilities.
      His team was terrible.