The game between the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder was decided by Kevin Durant’s last second buzzer beating basket. The Thunder was lucky and they know it. This morning I read comments and questions like, “Are the Mavericks the Worst Champions Since 1961?” and “The Mavericks should at least put up a fight.” This is my reaction to analyst comments like these.

The Dallas Mavericks don’t get the respect they deserve after winning the 2011 NBA Championship. The Mavericks earned the Larry O’brian Trophy. It wasn’t handed to them on a platter by poorly playing opponents. The 2012 version of the Mavericks are not the same team, but have the potential to be as good or better. I briefly discuss the changes here, but the core of the team has changed. They are having problems coming together as a team. The lockout and short preseason didn’t help. Old guys don’t bounce back as quick as young guys. Using the game against the Thunder we can analyze play of individual players and determine how well the team is integrating.

Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kid and Jason Terry played like veteran players who have been together a long time. Shawn Marion also played well, but seemed to have some trouble handling the ball—probably because of the broken little finger. These guys know their place on the team. I have confidence in this core group.

Delonte West looked impressive scoring 15 points, along with six assists and four rebounds. I don’t think he has any problem working with the team and will only get better as games stack up.

Haywood, Mahinmi and Williams rotated in as centers. I really liked what I saw. They attacked the basket, scored, rebounded and blocked six shots. I credit their effort and coaching. If they keep this up the Mavericks center play will be an asset.

Vince Carter still has some game left in him. His team integration looks a little raw, but should improve. Carter played aggressively, created shots, and made some of them. I’m not sure he understands his exact role yet.

Lamar Odom looks lost and confused. I believe he lost a little confidence in the trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. We know he is a good player. It’s just a matter of time before he embraces his role in the system. When Odom becomes part of the “team” we will see good things from him.

I’m not happy with an 0-3 start in a 66 game season. I’d like 3-0 much better. I think the wins will come. The Mavericks have plenty of individual talent, but they need to work as a team to make a run. It will be up to the coaches to help them become that team. Analysts and reporters make snap statements sometimes to sell a story. I think they’ll have to eat some of those sensationally negative words before the season is over.

Gerald is an outdoor sportsman who has followed the Dallas Mavericks since the mid 80s. He would like nothing better than to see the Mavericks win two more Championships with Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitski.

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DALLAS (USA TODAY) — The Dallas Mavericks’ problems appear to be greater than X’s and O’s, although coach Rick Carlisle has tried to take the blame for his team’s 0-2 start.

The Mavericks lost six players from last season’s NBA championship team that beat the Miami Heat, most notably 7-1 defensive pillar Tyson Chandler, change-of-pace guard J.J. Barea and physical perimeter defender DeShawn Stevenson.

Still, Western Conference foes won’t write off the Mavericks, who have been blown out twice at home: 105-94 by the Heat and 115-93 by the Denver Nuggets. They last opened 0-2 in 2006-07, when they started 0-4.

Through Monday, the Mavs led the league in points allowed (110.0 a game). Last season, they were 10th (96.0).

“We look old, slow and out of shape,” Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki said after Monday’s loss. “I still think this team has a lot of potential. We just need to work. We probably needed extra weeks of training camp. But we don’t have it, so the young teams, the athletic teams, look better right now than we do.”

What opponents don’t overlook is a champion’s resolve.

“The team that wins the championship usually is formidable because they’ve gone through an experience nobody else has,” Memphis Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. “They have a mental toughness. They have the confidence to know they can.”

Nuggets guard Corey Brewer, who had five points and four rebounds Monday, played for Dallas’ championship team.

“When Tyson jumped out, he pushed the pick-and-roll back and he protected the basket. … There wasn’t any layups, no dunks without Tyson coming to contest it,” Brewer said. “But they got to trust the system, because the system is great. Dirk is going to get everybody shots and guys get confidence, and that’s how they win.”

Besides losing key players, Dallas lost assistant coach Dwane Casey, Carlisle’s “quarterback,” who orchestrated the 2-3 matchup zone defense that keyed the title run. Casey is coach of the Toronto Raptors.

Casey called the defense under Carlisle. After Dallas’ made baskets, Casey would signal to point guard Jason Kidd, who would retreat with a clenched fist high. That meant a switch to the matchup zone. When executed properly, it’s difficult to decipher it from a man-to-man defense. Monte Mathis, a Mavs assistant last season, has assumed Casey’s role.

“He’s got not only the complete respect of the players, he’s a bright young mind,” Dallas general manager Donnie Nelson said of Mathis. “When you lose a guy like Dwane … it’s just another change you have to get used to.”

Nuggets coach George Karl thinks these Mavericks need time. “In an 82-game season, I don’t think anybody knows anything for about 20 games,” he said. “With a 66-game season, after 10 to 15 you’re going to have to make some decisions. I don’t think it’s time to panic.”

Nelson isn’t sure when they’ll click. “We’re patient,” he said. “I don’t think you can put a time element on chemistry. The good news is we’ve got veteran guys, and usually that stuff with veterans goes faster than not.”

Copyright 2011 USA TODAY

Through the first two games of the 2011-2012 season, the defending champion Dallas Mavericks have shown little on the court that would even remotely resemble that of the best team in the NBA.

Some of this is understandable, as the Mavs have lost some key contributors from last season’s remarkable Finals run. Dallas is missing it’s defensive MVP from last season in Tyson Chandler, it’s best perimeter defender in DeShawn Stevenson and a spark plug off the bench in J.J. Barea.

However, the team’s lackluster effort thus far in the young season likely could not be described as understandable. With talented veterans Lamar Odom, Vince Carter and Delonte West coming aboard; the Mavericks were expected to be able to weather the storm early-on this season as the team gelled throughout the year.

This has not happened.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Mavericks’ head coach Rick Carlisle said after the team’s banner raising blunder against the Miami HEAT. “Every day we’re going to have to make some gradual strides to get better, so that’s where we’re at. We had some stretches where we got some traction, but our consistency is not there. We’ve got to keep studying and keep working on it.”

After last night’s 115-93 beat down at the hands of the Denver Nuggets, Dallas is now 0-2 on the season and has fallen behind by 30 or more points in each of those contests. Because of furious runs by the Mavs’ reserves in each of those games, neither final score was reflective of the type of effort Dallas exhibited on either end of the floor.

Aside from West, who has shown flashes of what he can do in leading the Mavs bench during garbage time, the other two Mavericks’ offseason acquisitions have failed to live up to the billing of their former All-Star pedigree. Odom is a combined 2-16 from the field to start his career with Dallas and was ejected from the first contest have arguing with an official, and Carter has been largely relegated to the bench during key stretches for the Mavs.

The aforementioned Carter, who started at the two-spot against the HEAT but was benched at halftime and subsequently came of the pine last night against Denver, believes this team can and will play better going forward.

“No excuses,” Carter told HOOPSWORLD Sunday evening. “We’ve got to find a way, plain and simple. We’ve just got to figure out how we can get it done. Everybody’s dealt the same deck of cards, its just who can figure it out the fastest.”

Two of the biggest factors in the Mavs’ poor start this season, rebounding and defense, have been embarrassingly inept through two games. Dallas has allowed each team to shoot nearly 49 percent from the field and were out-rebounded by a combined 30 boards against the HEAT and Nuggets.

Aside from turning back time and deciding to keep Chandler from signing with the New York Knicks, a revival of energy and a focus on continuity are the only things that can help Dallas get back to playing championship-style basketball. With not much time between games and a shortened overall schedule, this team must find a way to speed up that process if it hopes to be a contender in April.

“We’re going to have to play a lot better basketball and we’re going to have to forge an identity with this team,” Carlisle said. “It’s a different team and that’s work. It’s going to take work,  it’s going take honesty and it’s not going to be easy.

“We’ve got to work to make quantum leaps as quickly and as often as we can.”

The one positive for Dallas going forward is the simple fact that there are still 64 games left on the schedule. With the type of talent that still resides on this team, namely former NBA and Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki, a strong run deep into the playoffs should still be a realistic possibility.

“I think we’ll be OK.  I think we’re going to make it happen sooner than later,” Mavs’ forward Shawn Marion told HOOPSWORLD.  “One game at a time, man… Just one game at a time, that’s all you can do.”

It’s way too early to start throwing out absolutes here in regards to what this team is going to be going forward but it’s difficult to simply shrug off the disturbing lack of effort the starters of this team have exuded through the first two days of the season. Energy has nothing to do with chemistry and this squad’s demeanor suggests a Finals hangover is in desperate need of getting a remedy.

The defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks have started out 0-2.

An ugly 0-2. They have been blown out by the Heat and the Nuggets on their home court, losing by a combined 33 points (and it wasn’t really that close, garbage time runs have made it look better than it was).

What in the name of Mark Cuban is going on?

The problem is, it’s not just one thing. Both the offense and the defense have taken steps back so far this season. Big steps. At the heart of the issue is the team chemistry and selfless team play — the great offensive ball movement, the coordinated defense — have disappeared.

Dallas last season won because the whole was greater than the sum of their parts. Their chemistry made up for the lack of athleticism. This year so far they are just parts. Here is what Dirk Nowitzki told the Dallas Morning News.

“We look old and slow and out of shape — a bad combination,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 20 points and sat out the entire fourth quarter for a second straight game, yet another indication of how bad things are going. “I still think this team has a lot of potential. But we have to turn the corner.”

That should come with time — Lamar Odom just looks lost right now trying to find his way, but he will find his spots. Eventually. It’s just that in a condensed season the Mavs have less time to make this all happen.

And there are a lot of areas that need work.

Transition defense is at the top of the list. Both Denver and the Heat ran against Mavericks embarrassed the Mavs. To be kind. Both the Heat and Nuggets created mismatches in transition and exploited them mercilessly. Dallas started out focused on it against Denver but those plans wilted as they game wore on.

More than just transition, it was things like baseline drives that Dallas used to shut off (thank you Tyson Chandler) which they are giving up now in bunches.

On offense the Mavs have scored 16 points fewer per 100 possessions compared to last year, and they are playing at a faster pace through two games, exacerbating the problem. They are not getting good looks through ball movement, they are looking more isolated and their shots more contested.

The problem is they are a jump shooting team and those misses are long rebounds and the Heat and Nuggets turned those misses into fast beaks, and we talked about the lack of transition defense.

Coach Rick Carlisle is looking for solutions. He is starting Delonte West over Vince Carter (mostly for the defense). He gave Sean Williams run and he looked good, providing them the athleticism the Mavericks need.

But the real solution is time. The core of the Dallas team that won the title and had been together for years has been broken up in the name of cap space and there is a new learning curve. Eventually Dallas will get back close to what they were. But the bumps in the road are painful.

The real concern is that in this condensed schedule, the hole they are digging at the start of the season is going to hurt them more later.

When looking back at all of my favorite sports memories of 2011, I think of many sports moments. As a die-hard Boston sports fan, I obviously think about the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup but I also think about the Boston Red Sox’s epic end-of-the-season collapse. But my favorite sports memory of 2011 has nothing to do with a Boston sports team.

My favorite sports moment over the span of this year has to do with my favorite basketball team: the Dallas Mavericks. Though the Mavericks have experienced many great seasons, throughout the history of the organization, the 2011 season for the Mavericks was their best. In fact, Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd helped the team win the team’s first NBA championship.

When the Mavericks beat Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, I earnestly believed that the Mavericks would not do well against the Miami Heat. The Mavericks obviously had a solid team last year but the Heat appeared to be much better and had a dynamic trio of all-stars – Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade.

In the end, the Mavericks prevailed against the Heat in the NBA Finals, winning the championship in six games. As you might have guessed by now, I am a passionate Mavericks fan and their championship win was one of my favorite sports moments of all time. Being able to watch James and Wade walk off the court in disgrace also made that night highly enjoyable. However, in the end, one of my favorite highlights of the Mavericks’ championship night was finally being able to see Mark Cuban experience triumphant joy for his Dallas basketball team. Watching many of the Mavericks players, especially Dirk Nowitzki, finally enjoy knowing that they helped their team win the championship was one of my favorite sports moments in 2011. The team deserved to win and I hope that they will repeat their success in 2012.

Sources:

Jaime Aron, “New Mavs Odom, Carter eager to help defend title,” Yahoo! Sports.

Jaime Aron, “Nowitzki curious who’ll help Mavs defend crown,” Yahoo! Sports.

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