Welcome To 'Fourth-QuarterCollapse.com'

  There’s a fine Orlando Magic website called Third Quarter Collapse. I’m hoping they don’t mind if we at DallasBasketball.com surf off their cleverness for a re-launch of our site, based on the crunch-time exploits of our beloved-but-beleaguered Mavs.

  Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Fourth-QuarterCollapse.com.

  The Mavs have seven losses. The number of them that can be directly tied to Dallas’ uncanny ability to allow the opponent to go on a virtually-unanswered run is up to six.

  To recap:

  Houston at Dallas: Close game. Rockets string together a 16-2 run in the fourth quarter and win.

  Cleveland at Dallas: Close game. Cavs string together a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter and win.

  Dallas at Clippers: Close game. Clippers string together a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter and win.

  Lakers at Dallas: Close game. Lakers string together an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter and win.

  Dallas at Chicago: Close game. Bulls string together a 13-2 run in the fourth quarter and win.

  And now comes Friday’s 102-100 home loss to the Magic. Plenty of numbers to consider here: Carlisle, rather desperate, tried his fifth starting lineup in nine games, benching Jet and starting Gerald Green along with Josh Howard; three players scored 20-plus (Josh, Dirk and Jet) scored 20-plus – but Dallas is 0-2 when that happens; Dallas’ 10-game win streak over Orlando was snapped; and the 2-7 Mavs are now losers of four straight and are 0-4 at home.

  But enough of that. We’ll continue in our Fourth-QuarterCollapse.com theme:

  Orlando at Dallas: Close game. Magic strings together a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter

and wins.

  The Mavs have been blown out of some of these games. Others, the Magic loss in particular, have come down to the final possession or two. Carlisle had complained about the lack of energy to start games, but that hasn’t been a problem this week, with the Mavs opening in Chicago with a 24-5 edge and starting the Orlando game with an 11-3 lead.

  There are some constants, though, highlighted by Carlisle’s NBA-standard handling of KIDDIRK. Dirk and Jason generally take their last rests in games at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Not this time. Josh started the fourth, as did Kidd. Dirk’s rest only lasted 78 seconds. And none of those three guys rested from there.

  It fit with something Carlisle had said before the game, something about finding some “short-term solutions.’’ I guessed correctly at what he meant: The Mavs simply cannot forfeit the first six minutes or so of the final period, night after friggin’ night, so Jason Kidd (and front-line company) must play.

  And yet. …

  It still didn’t work.

  With 1:12 left in the third, Dallas was ahead 78-67. Hey, we’re 13 minutes and 12 seconds away from a win. … we’re at home. … and we’re into “short-term solutions,’’ which means that KIDDIRK are going to each log 38 minutes or so, which means that J-Ho is going to stay on the floor for 35 minutes, even with his bum wrist. …

  Twenty seconds in the fourth, Jet hits a 3. Dallas is up 83-72. Roll clock, roll!

  But then, at 11:23. … A Bass foul leads to free throws. A Stack turnover. A Bass offensive foul/turnover. A Diop foul. Two missed jumpers. Three offensive rebounds allowed.

  And from 11:23 to 9:06 – two minutes and 17 seconds of familiar hell – Orlando turns a potential blowout loss into a measly 85-82 Mavs lead. And when Orlando outscores Dallas 30-20 in the fourth quarter, when Dallas shoots 6-of-22 in the fourth, when Dallas’ 100-99 lead with 26 seconds evaporates thanks to a pair of turnovers, the Fourth-QuarterCollapse.com fodder is official.

  How should our faith in the Mavs’ ability to win at New York tonight be affected by the fact that Dallas is habitually allowing opponents fourth-quarter runs of 16-2, 13-0, 13-0, 11-0, 13-2 and 10-2?

  I guess I hope that tonight, the Mavs enter the fourth quarter with, say, a 14-point lead, so they can hang on and win by one.

 1243pm nov 16 2008