Analysis: After loss to Magic, Mavs searching for answers

By Art Garcia, NBA.com
Posted Nov 15 2008 12:37AM

DALLAS — He repeated it over and over before the game. No matter the question. No matter the angle the reporter tried to take.

Is it time to hit the panic button? Is it a matter of effort? Are you ready to lose it and let them have it?

Through it all, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle dealt from the same deck of cards.

“We’ve just got to find a way to get a win,” he said again and again in some form or fashion. “That’s what it’s about right now. I think it’s pretty evident.”

Staring at a 2-6 record, a four-game losing streak and winless at home, Carlisle’s boys were in a rare spot for mid-November. A quasi must-win Friday night against the visiting Orlando Magic.

“It’s difficult,” Carlisle admitted. “Losing streaks are not fun. You’ve got to fight your way out.”

So what happened? The Mavs lost again. The Magic, trailing for much of the game, rallied late and punched Dallas in the gut 102-100. Rashard Lewis put the finishing touches on a 23-point performance with two free throws with 10.9 seconds left that officially were the difference.

But it was a senseless turnover at the other end — Josh Howard inbounded the ball straight to Jameer Nelson with Dallas down one — that clinched the Mavs’ loss. Carlisle took the fall for the inexplicable miscue, perhaps in an effort not to lose a team on the brink of a meltdown.

“I’ll take the blame because I’m the coach,” Carlisle said almost void of emotion. “When you throw to the other team, I’ll take the blame for that.”

Howard didn’t offer much more.

“It was a tough play,” he said. “We can correct it.”

Jason Terry’s potential game-tying 12-footer rimmed out just before the buzzer giving Orlando its first victory in Dallas in 11 years. The Magic (6-3) prevailed despite trailing by as much as 15, shooting less than 40 percent, getting outrebounded and having man-child Dwight Howard held relatively in check.

“We just hung in there and kept fighting and we made some plays at the end and it was great,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. “It’s a great win when you can shoot 38 percent on the road against a good team and get a win. I think it says a lot about your team.”

Mickael Pietrus scored 20, including a huge 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down to give Orlando a 99-96 edge with just over a minute to play. Nelson added 21 points. Pietrus, Nelson and Lewis totaled 23 of the Magic’s 30 points in the fourth. Howard had just two.

“We didn’t do nothing but win this game,” Nelson said. “It’s all that matters. That game right there goes in the Ws.”

Distraught summed up the mood in Mavs quarters. Some players were dressed and out the door before the media made it into the locker room. Those who remained were in Carlisle mood. They were repeating answers that have become all too common during the 2-7 start.

“I guess once you’re in a funk, everything else seems to go against you,” Dirk Nowitzki sighed.

The desperate Mavs came into the evening prepared to pull on Superman’s cape. The gameplan was simple. Basically, throw a whole lot of beef at Howard and hope it’s enough to slow him down.

For all its shortcomings two weeks into the season, Dallas is one of the few teams around with the girth and length needed to combat the muscle-bound jumping jack. The combined 525 pounds of Erick Dampier and Gana Diop were on the spot.

“I don’t think any other team can run two guys with that size and that defensive ability at him,” Van Gundy said. “Most nights what he sees is people have got to load up on him with three or four guys. He doesn’t get pushed around.”

Coming off a freshly minted triple-double — the first of his career — Howard was the definite focal point for the Mavs. He didn’t come close to the 30 points, 19 boards and career-best 10 blocks registered Wednesday at Oklahoma City or blowing out candles on the rim.

Howard’s line of 18 points and 13 boards looks pedestrian by his standards. Dampier and Diop combined for 17 rebounds, and helped limit Howard to 6-of-14 shooting. Still, the Mavs once again found a way to come up short.

Dallas is 0-4 at home for the first time in 15 years.

“You’ve just got to draw a line in the sand and decide to get over the hump somehow,” Carlisle said. “We were just about there and it didn’t happen. I thought we played well and battled and all that, but there’s no moral victory after this.”

http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/art_garcia/11/15/mavs.magic/index.html