For those of you still able to think about the Mavs without banging your head on the desk here are the morning links.
Art Gracia has a bunch of quotes from Dirk about the early struggles.
"It looks like we haven't won in eight months. It looks weird. It's always a tough stretch to lose three in a row, but it doesn't look as bad as when you're stuck on zero."
"Some guys might be hesitant, 'Should I shoot it right now? Should I drive it?' Everybody has got to get used to [coach] Avery [Johnson], even the new guys," Nowitzki said. "Where should we be on defense? Who's going to double team? Who's rotating where?
"It's because we didn't have a lot of practice together in the preseason. It's so early. We're not really worried about anything, but it's still a tough stretch to go through. If you go through this stretch in January, you lose three in a row, it doesn't look as bad."
--------------------"Some guys might be hesitant, 'Should I shoot it right now? Should I drive it?' Everybody has got to get used to [coach] Avery [Johnson], even the new guys," Nowitzki said. "Where should we be on defense? Who's going to double team? Who's rotating where?
"It's because we didn't have a lot of practice together in the preseason. It's so early. We're not really worried about anything, but it's still a tough stretch to go through. If you go through this stretch in January, you lose three in a row, it doesn't look as bad."
Sefko's game recap highlights a disturbing stat.
The Mavericks were 6-of-23 from 3-point range, trying too many of them and making too few.
--------------------Sefko also has some quotes from Avery.
"I evaluate the team in 20-game increments," Johnson said. "We haven't got to that evaluation point yet. But does that mean we want to continue where we are? We've got to get better. When you play really good basketball, you can identify one or two areas. We're not there yet. I want to get it down to one or two areas."
OK then, 16-4. Let's do it.Hopefully it will begin tonight because the Mavs might catch their first break of the season. The 1-4 Suns might be without Raja Bell and Steve Nash tonight.
The greater concern is now Bell's availability, as well as Steve Nash's. Nash suffered a hip sprain in the first quarter. As good as he looked early (and he was really carving up the Spurs early), his availability was limited later and that's why he did not return in the fourth quarter until there were about six minutes to go in the game.