There were signs of life last night - see the positives.  Or be angry about the officiating...

"I think Chauncey was hung up in the air and really had nowhere to go, and kicked his leg out and gets the call," Nowitzki said. "The league told us when you kick your leg out this season, it's an automatic offensive foul."

And it doesn't end there.  Mark Cuban said after the game that he will be sending in video of a JR Smith elbow -- arguing that he should be suspended.

"I will personally make sure that J.R. Smith is suspended," Cuban said. "He threw an elbow right at the end of the first half. He threw an elbow that barely missed, and it was a hard elbow. It was face high. And the rule says if you throw that, you are gone. And, we told the officials, and they went in and looked at it at halftime. They could have assessed a flagrant and didn't.

Hopefully Dallas can play off these emotions to get fired up for the big game tonight.  A win against New Olreans, to end a three game losing streak, would be really big -- a loss equally so.

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Caplan recaps the game and points to the end of each quarter as the Mavs 'undoing' (as Coach Carlisle would say).

..somehow the Mavs crept back from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to lead 95-91 with 1:32 to go in the game. But the Mavs struggled throughout to close out a quarter and, when it came to closing out the game, they couldn't do that, either.

The Nuggets won the end of each quarter by a combined 29-6.

Mike Fisher also goes over the end of each quarter.

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Caplan, apparently trying to prove me wrong about being the same as Sefko, doesn't hesitate to point out the horrible game Kidd had last night.  It might be the most negative thing I've read locally about Kidd since the trade.

But, after he swished his first shot Sunday against the Kings (a 23-foot, 8-inch jumper for two points because, surprise, his toe was on the line), Kidd missed his next eight shots and finished 1-of-9 and 0-5.

He entered Tuesday's game at Denver with his shooting percentage teetering just above 40 percent and knowing the Nuggets would entice him to take the 3.

Kidd badly missed his only 3-point attempt in the first half and was 1-of-4 from the field with five assists, five turnovers and three fouls in the opening 24 minutes.

It got worse. He was 0-for-5 in the third quarter and didn't shoot again.

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On this day nine years ago, the paperwork was finalized making Mark Cuban the official new owner of the Mavs.