Smoked! Mavs Fume After 111-103 Loss To Warriors

   Inasmuch as the Mavs got smoked, it makes perfect sense for Dallas coach Rick Carlisle to respond to Tuesday’s shocking 111-102 home loss to the woeful Warriors by sending out smoke signals. Interpret them as you wish:

   “We’ve had too many games at home where we’ve lost focus,’’ said Carlisle.

   “Too many times … well, we needed to be in a dead sprint to get back . … and we had too many breakdowns,’’ said Carlisle.

    “I think we are going to look back and point to the lack of attention to detail in terms of our effort,'' said Carlisle.

     “Hey, maybe this was a case of me playing some of our guys too many minutes, and if so, that’s on me,’’ said Carlisle.

     I think a simmering coach Rick Carlisle, in trying to speak in code, just fractured his sarcasm bone.

    And those six bodies? Three of them played all 48 minutes … and yet right when the Warriors should’ve been corpses – for instance, when Dallas had them down 98-89 with six minutes left – the Mavs let them live by being outscored 24-7 down the stretch.

    Yes, Rick. The Warriors played half of their six dudes the full 48. You tortured your poor Mavs by playing a couple of them for 40 minutes.  

     “There are losses,’’ Dirk Nowitzki said, “and then there are bad losses. This was one of them.’’

    Yes, yes, we’ve seen the Warriors do this before. Once upon a time, they were an eighth-seeded playoff team upsetting the 67-win Mavs. And here, Golden State came in at 4-8 and Dallas came in at 10-3.

    But that’s where the similarities should end. Those Warriors only exist now in the yellow “We Believe!’’ T-shirts Oaklanders use to wash their cars.

    C’mon. The Warriors reek.

     Now, Monta Ellis – the only active player who was even around two seasons ago -- is a special player; I can certainly see why Nellie wants to dump him. (Ouch! I just broke my sarcasm bone, too!) Ellis was unguardable, even when Carlisle shifted into a zone, as he dribble-zig-zagged his way to 37 points. How did the Mavs answer in that fourth?

    *By going with the 3-PG Attack and allowing J.J. Barea to be victimized by Ellis and play-alike rookie Stephen Curry, good for 18 points and 11 in the final four minutes(!) A video review of the fourth quarter suggests that the Warriors purposely found JJB’s spot in the zone and bludgeoned it.

    *By allowing Jason Terry to carry a heavy offensive load. He scored 21 in the game but he shot 12 times in the fourth ... not necessarily a bad thing until you compare it to Dirk Nowitzki handling the ball just enough to manage just three shots in the final quarter. The UberMan entered the fourth with 28 points … and remained stuck there, even against a bunch of Warriors who play defense as if they think it’ll give them pneumonia.

    *By – inexplicably – being the team that ran out of late-game energy, especially on a stop-free defensive end … especially infuriating given the fact that the Mavs certainly didn’t expend early-game energy.

     How did Dallas lose a nine-point lead with six minutes to play? How did Dallas – which had been 9-0 in games in which it led going into the fourth quarter – not pull away way before the six-minute mark? How did Dallas not pull away in the first 24 minutes, when less sloppiness, better execution and more intensity would’ve made this the blowout that the basketball gods intended?

    Hell, how did the Golden State Warriors not get tired?

    “They didn’t seem winded at all,’’ observed Mavs center Drew Gooden.

     Seem winded? They shouldn’t have even seemed interested! From Nellie on down, there are a host of Warriors in Oakland who would rather there be no there there. Raja Bell just got traded to Oaktown and immediately opted for surgery. Vladimir Radmonovic just got traded there, too, and rumor has it he also opted for surgery until Golden State doctors told him they weren’t going to fall for that ol’ trick because there is nothing wrong with him. And why didn’t all the other Warriors play? Well, I’m told a bunch of them are going to claim the same injury as Andris Biedrins, who is listed on the injury report as suffering from “Osteitis Pubis.’’ And I’m pretty sure it’s some sort of an inside hoops joke because I believe Osteitis Pubis used to play in the old ABA.

    Anyway, various Mavs offered essentially the same explanation for how such a basketball disaster could occur. Carlisle and Dirk and Drew Gooden all kind of handled this, but I'll leave it to Gooden:

    “This has been happening the last six or seven games,'' Gooden said of errors that Dallas has largely been able to overcome. "(Losing) a nine-point lead? Tonight, it came back to bite us.’’

    There was some anger in the locker room; Jason Kidd (five points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists) met an obligation to do a quick TV interview and then excused himself from further conversation. That usually doesn’t agree with me, but I get it here. In fact, I’d also get it if some suit at the AAC reminded the three Dallas rotation players who once again sat out – Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Erick Dampier – that returns at their earliest convenience would be much appreciated, thank you very much and please do RSVP because on Wednesday is the second night of a B-2-B in Houston … and if you “don't sprint back’’ or “lose focus'' or "lack attention to detail in your effort'' or feel bad because coach "played you too many minutes,’’ the Rockets will run y’all and work y’all out of the gym.

   Are you reading the smoke signals? This coach is using subtle and sarcastic buzzphrases that hopefully touch a nerve for his players. I mean, "too many minutes''? After the other team just ran a tag-team marathon without every tagging out? 

    So Dallas really needs all hands on deck because you know, after stopgap starter Quinton Ross hurt his back and couldn’t play in the second half, on Tuesday the Mavs only had 10 bodies. And 10 Mavericks bodies certainly cannot be expected to compete with six Warriors bodies.

    Oops. I think I just re-rebroke that sarcasm bone.