"We're not going to be good until we play hard...we need to dig down and find some pride!" Rick Carlisle said after Friday nights loss at home to the second worst team in the NBA.
I've talked recently of the Mavs' "uninspired" play of late. They have been playing at a .500 level for the last month and a half! I wrote this the other day: "The Mavs' will face the Minnesota T-Wolves tonight in the AAC. This is a MUST WIN game! If the Mavericks lose at home to the second worst team in the NBA at 11-38 then we may be revisiting that panic button". Well...It may be time to at least find the panic button and know where it is...just in case.
The Mavs' played semi-decent in the first half, and was up by four at halftime. This is normally where a veteran team like Dallas is supposed to take over (especially at home) and put the T-Wolves away in the third quarter...thats the opposite of what happened. Minnesota was allowed by Dallas to score 32 third quarter points while Dallas decided to score only 19. At one point the Mavs' had led this game by 10, in the 3rd they fell behind by 13! That didn't stop a comeback, and as you watched you just knew that Dirk and Kidd and Terry would not let this game slip away. But in the fourth it was none of those names coming to the rescue. Roddy Beaubois took over the early part of the 4th giving Dallas the spark that ignited the comeback. He hit three timely threes to keep Dallas in the game. The rest of the Mavs' got the idea and started getting the the basket and getting to the free throw line. I knew that the Mavs' would win this one, I had no doubt in my mind that they were going to come back and win.
With 2:35 left in the game the wall collapsed for the Mavs'. They had taken the lead, completed the comeback, and had the game won, all they had to do was close it out. With the Wolves fumbling the ball every trip down the floor, and having not hit a basket in over 4 minutes, it seemed they were doing so. But...with the Mavs' up 106-104 with 2:35 remaining, they simply gave up. Dirk fouled a 3point shot, Roddy B. committed 2 offensive fouls, and with Shawn Marion on the bench and the three guard lineup on the floor the Mavs' gave up the game by allowing the T-Wolves to grab an all important offensive rebound.
It was painfully gut-wrenching to watch. The Mavs' got outscored 13-2. And the (seemingly) pride-less Mavs' lost yet another game at home. This was the first loss that Dallas has suffered at the hands of the T-Wolves since 2006, they had won 14 straight over Minnesota. This loss was low, Minnesota is terrible this year, with no nameable players, no stars, no great talent. They have a few young lottery picks from the last few years. Yet this team of nobodies came TO Dallas and stomped the Mavs' in the last 2:35 of the game.
The cameras showed the Mavs' walking back to the locker room and every single won of them was shaking their heads in disbelieve. Where is the pride? Why wont they defend their home court? These questions need to get answered and they need to get answered NOW. They go on the road to play @ Golden State and @ Denver...two teams that DO defend their home. Dallas could easily hit the All-Star break on a three game losing streak. And now having lost 3 out of 4 they are in position to fall into mediocrity very quickly if they cannot "dig down and find some pride!"
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