Monday Morning Roundup

Behind the Box Score, where the Raptors are gettin' along | Kelly Dwyer - Ball Don't Lie
The Mavericks put up no such fight, which is odd because most teams usually give you the "OK, I know nobody's watching back home, but we're up at this hour and we've already dealt with customs; might as well try." Nobody was watching. A few channels away, the Cowboys were getting skunked in Minnesota, but that's no excuse for the Mavs to come through with this sort of effort.

Mavericks 'embarrassing' in 110-88 loss to Raptors | DMN
"If you can't get stops and you can't score in the half-court, you're in trouble," said Dirk Nowitzki, who had 19 points. "Some nights you have to outscore teams. Some nights you have to grind it out with defense. We didn't do either one. "Anytime you get blown out by a team that's barely .500, that's not good. Our offense has basically been garbage all season long. But we prided ourselves on defense, and that's how we were getting wins and were second in the West all this time."

Slumping Dallas Mavericks seem to have lost their way | Eddie Sefko- DMN
The Mavericks don't want to say they are in a slump, a lull, a funk or a dead spell. But they clearly are going through all those things right now. The defense has deserted them. And opponents have figured out how to get the ball out of Dirk Nowitzki's hands, forcing other Mavericks to beat them, which isn't happening. Too many mistakes are being made by too many players.

Bavarian Stew: Mavs Road-Killed, 110-88, In Toronto | Mike Fisher - DB.com
 On the telecast, my man Bob Ortegel hopefully dug in his fingernails, insisting that with 8:23 left and trailing by 14, it wasn’t over…. But that the Mavs needed to get busy NOW.      Bob O issued that statement when the score was 89-75. In the blink of an eye, Jason Terry missed two good looks in the paint, then got a technical foul when he took and angry swat at Hedo and flipped the ball at the ref …      In two zany bizarro-world follow-up occurrences:      *The Mav player who tried to calm Jet was that Bastion of Logical Thought, Josh Howard;      *The Raptor player who rubbed it in Jet’s face was Antoine Wright, the ex-Mav who hit a 3 to make it 93-75 – and who earned himself a +28.

Monday Morning Donuts: Mavs Can't Just 'Do Something.' They Must Do The Right Thing | DB.com
There has been a dip in results since the Mavs’ 19-7 start. Dallas is just 7-7 since. And here’s a sharp observation: The Mavs are now closer to the 11th seed (4.5 games up) than they are the 1st seed (5.0 games back).