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The Dallas Mavericks won't look back to the last week overly proud of their achievements. The first four games of the brutal stretch of nine games in twelve nights are in the books and the Dallas Mavericks came out 1-3, including embarrassing losses to the lottery-bound Nets and Hornets. That completed the first four game losing streak of the season (they've lost three consecutive twice and two consecutive once). And the schedule is about to pick up with five games in six nights starting with the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight. Here's your overview of this weeks Power Rankings:
NBA.com - John Schuhmann: 10th
Did the Mavs' offense finally break out on Saturday? TBD, because there wasn't much balance against the Jazz, Dirk Nowitzki isn't going to score 40 points very often, and it would be nice if they didn't have to rely on jump shots so much. They really do need Lamar Odom to be productive going forward.
Lamar Odom returns after being on leave for the last week, but how can Mavs trust he'll be able to stay engaged mentally?
SheridanHoops.com - Chris Sheridan: 15th
This week’s losers of the scheduling lottery: five games in six nights upcoming, including a back-to-back-to-back on the road at Phoenix, Sacramento and Golden State. Lost in the drama of the Lamar Odom saga was Dirk Nowitzki’s first 40-point game of the season in win vs. Utah.
ProBasketballTalk - Kurt Helin: 10th
They had a five-game losing streak before Dirk Nowitzki went off for 40 and stopped it Saturday. Lamar Odom is back and says he is sorry for how things are gone, but the Mavs need actions to speak louder than words.
Saturday's win over Utah was certainly much-needed, but the continued confusion about what the heck happened with Lamar Odom remains at front of mind. The amateur psychology going on here is astounding.
Mark Cuban sat up on a big stage at the Sloan Sports Conference in Boston and insisted that no regular season will tell us less about the playoffs than this one. He can only hope that's the case given how Dallas, amid all the Odom chaos, started its worst schedule stretch (nine games in 12) on the 2011-12 calendar.
ESPN - John Holinger's Metric: 8th
Teamrankings.com - Power Ratings: 11th
HoopsStats.com - Efficiency Differential: 8th
MavsMoneyball - j0Shi's Schedule Adjusted Efficiencies: 14th