Landmarks & Landmines: LAC 103, Mavs 92

  It was a landmark Sunday afternoon in LA. Unfortunately it was also a landmine Sunday afternoon in LA. And in a 103-92 loss to the sadsack Clippers, the Mavs really stepped on ‘em. And stepped in it.

  We analyze the loss by noting a nasty trend: In three of the four losses, the Mavs have given up fourth-quarter runs of 16-2, 13-0 and 13-0. …

The bad news? He didn’t get the bulk of his time at the 2, rather being forced into action at the 3 in place of Josh Howard, sidelined because of a sore left wrist. J-Ho hurt the thing against Cleveland on Nov. 3, aggravated it Friday in Denver, and missed workouts this weekend in anticipation of making a return to the lineup Tuesday against the Lakers.

But that’s kind of Life With The Mavs right now; one step forward (GG playing 35 minutes) and two steps back (J-Ho sitting and Dallas dropping to 2-4.)

(Sidebar: Our man Bob Sturm argues whether J-Ho is "clutch.'' Worth a read.)

A CLIPPER LANDMARK, A MAVS LANDMINE: The Clippers had lost six straight against Dallas, and, just for convenience’s sake, were also 0-6  to start the season. Lots of things are disappointing about this loss, but the inability of Dallas to accept LAC as a living, breathing “Get Well’’ card is right up there.

THE OLD DIRK: Dirk Nowitzki offered up some vintage stuff here in the sense that he completely carried the Mavs on his back. He led the Mavericks with 33 points and seven rebounds. No J-Ho, they go to Dirk. Nothing much from Jet, they go to Dirk. J-Kidd goes almost the whole first half without a bucket, they go to Dirk.

And after the game, The UberMan was the go-to guy for evaluation – and his form of leadership.

“If you don't compete hard, it's not about Xs and Os,'’’ Nowitzki said. “You can run whatever play you want. You can have all the schemes you want defensively. We've just got to push ourselves to play harder. … I don't know what it is. I don't know what's going on. We don't leave it all out there, and that's what you've got to do. ... That's on the players, on every single one of us. … We've got to cut harder. We've got to defend harder. We've got to rebound hard. I just think we're coasting too much right now. … We're not good enough to coast, as you saw tonight.’’

Translation, short version: “We suck.’’

OK, I’M READY TO TALK TRADE: Hmmm. Michael Jordan wants to trade for a big man, eh?  And Gerald Wallace wants out of Larry Brown’s Charlotte hell, eh? And Charlotte has fallen in love with Augustin at the point and less so with Felton? And Stack – who happens to be, like Jordan and Brown, a North Carolina guy, is grumbling about his Mavs playing time, eh?

Is Portland shopping to get over the top?

Now, I know the Mavs say they are committed to letting this group improve together. But I don’t know that the view means Mark Cuban is committed to waiting until February to do something.

So, hmmm.

BOOM DIZZLE VS. JJB: Baron Davis had 22 points and 10 assists. Sure, he was 2-of-12 shooting in the first half. And sure, the boxscore creates the impression that Jason Kidd (nine assists and seven points) gave Boom Dizzle a good fight.

But the truth? About the best Dallas could do was to play the diminutive JJB against Davis. So JJB scrapped and rolled around on the floor and scooted about and even scored a couple of baskets. But it seemed like every time JJB “burned’’ Baron with some accomplishment, Baron calmly took charge on the other end of the floor to answer it.

JJB’s relative success here is the definition of a “moral victory.’’

OBAMA AND THE NBA:  A very cool list of the highest-paid NBA players and how their taxes would increase under Obama’s proposal. Can’t say I’m crying for any of them.

 THE ‘CLUTCH’ IS BROKEN: The Clippers put this thing on ice late with a 13-0 fourth-quarter run. Combine that with the screwball stuff that happened at the close of the Friday loss at Denver (the inbounds pass to Bass, the missed FT by Kidd). Now note that Cleveland’s win over Dallas featured a 13-0 fourth-quarter run. And that Houston’s win over Dallas featured a 16-2 fourth-quarter run.

And those of us who assumed coach Rick Carlisle would almost immediately tighten some of this crap up are. …

Still waiting.

JET WILL SCORE 20, RIGHT?: in his pair of road games against the Clippers last year, Jason Terry scored 20. In his last two games, both as a starter, he’s scored 20-plus. If you are crunching numbers and making predictions, don’t you put him down for 20 here?

Nope. Not if the team's second leading scorer clangs his first 11 shots, finishes 3-of-15 from the field and seems terribly reliant (stop me if you’ve heard this before) on the perimeter shot.

THE SPURS’ ‘BAD LUCK’: I mentioned this last week after watching SA lose to the Mavs and then struggle to handle Minny in 2 OTs: It’d be a shame if the Mavs can’t take advantage of SA’s little run of “bad luck.’’

And hey, it is tough luck for the Spurs, with the Manu injury and now the Longoria injury. But, as Tom Ziller astutely points out, maybe it is SA’s turn for some tough luck, some bad luck, inasmuch as they’ve pretty much gone a decade without it.

MORE DIRK: “I’ve got to find a way to do more, get the troops ready to play. That’s obviously partially my fault. We’ve got to find a way to get everybody involved.’’

Again, I’m all for The UberMan flexing his leadership muscles in any way possible. I’m even into him landing on tiny children and making them cry. But even I’ve got to admit: We’re six games into the season, and we’re already having to call out guys, to appeal to guys’ pride, to push the rah-rah/challenge button?

THE NUMBERS GAME: The Mavs have given up more than 100 points in four of their six games. They’ve reached 100 points once in five games. One way to get a grip on all this is to control the pace of the game – which is a Jason Kidd specialty and a Rick Carlisle promise.

Against LAC, the Mavs scored nine fast-break points.

Never mind.

‘THIS IS WHAT SPORTS IS ALL ABOUT’: Escaping the Mavs Misery for the moment. … “This-Is-What-Sports-Is-All-About’’ report from our man “Rings’’ on DB.com Boards, a Texas Tech parent who enjoyed every stand-on-your-feet second of No. 2 Tech’s blowout of pretender Okie State.

1020pm nov 9 2008