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

What are your opinions.

There is the quick update of the day.

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.

There is the quick update of the day.

Gotta run!.

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.

What do you guys think about this.

Nuggets-Mavericks Preview

By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN

STATS Senior Writer

(AP) — The start of the Dallas Mavericks’ title defense couldn’t have gone much worse.

The Mavericks won’t have to wait long to try to bounce back Monday night at home in the Denver Nuggets’ season opener.

After Dallas raised a banner to celebrate its first NBA title Sunday, the Mavericks fell behind by as many as 35 points in a 105-94 loss to Miami in a finals rematch that was not as close as the final score.

Coach Rick Carlisle preached patience for his new-look squad, which lost center Tyson Chandler and backup point guard J.J. Barea and added forward Lamar Odom and guards Vince Carter and Delonte West.

“We’re going to have to forge an identity with this team; it’s a different team,” Carlisle said. “That’s work, and it’s going to take honesty, and it’s not going to be easy.”

Odom had a terrible Mavericks debut with four points, four rebounds and four fouls in 13 minutes. The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year was 1 of 6 from the field before getting ejected in the third quarter.

“We’ve got to get better and it will take a little time to get better,” Odom said.

Jason Terry led Dallas with 23 points while star Dirk Nowitzki added 21 on 6-of-15 shooting.

The Mavericks lost both home games against the Nuggets last season, going 1-3 in the season series. Three of those meetings, however, came when Carmelo Anthony was with Denver.

This will be Denver’s first full season without Anthony since 2002-03. The Nuggets went 18-7 after trading Anthony to New York to finish with 50 wins last season, losing to Oklahoma City in five games in the first round of the playoffs.

In a league in which teams like the Knicks and Heat are trying for success by stockpiling superstars, Denver is without one. Danilo Gallinari averaged 14.7 points in 14 games for Denver last season after being acquired from New York.

“What we’re trying to do is start where we left off last year and I think we feel now we can get there,” coach George Karl said.

One reason for optimism is that Denver re-signed its top two free agents, Nene and Arron Afflalo. Nene averaged 14.5 points last season and Afflalo a career-best 12.6.

“These guys are very valuable to the organization, and they are very skilled players,” general manager Masai Ujiri told the Nuggets’ official website. “Rather than go out and find players like them, I think you keep the ones you have.”

Point guard Andre Miller came over from Portland for a second stint with the team while the Nuggets also acquired perimeter players Corey Brewer and Rudy Fernandez from Dallas on Dec. 13.

“Maybe there will be some pieces that will be different and we might not be as good in certain areas, but I think we can get to the point where some of the success we had last season can be repeated,” Karl said.

Afflalo missed the first two games of the playoff series against the Thunder with a hamstring injury and struggled to average 11.3 points on 35.3 percent shooting in the next three contests. He’s healthy now, and hopes to resemble the player who averaged 14.3 points on 53.3 percent shooting in three games against Dallas last season.

“I’m excited to be more of a leader of the team,” said Afflalo, whose jumper beat the buzzer and the Mavericks 121-120 on Feb. 10.

Updated December 25, 2011

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By Jaime Aron
The Associated Press

DALLAS – While Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks were on the court celebrating the championship they won over LeBron James and Dwyane Wade last season, the Miami Heat were gathered in another part of the building.

It wasn’t because they dreaded watching the ceremony, they insisted.

They were simply getting ready to show everyone why they are favored to win it all this season.

James and Wade led a series of scoring waves that put Miami ahead by 35 points midway through the third quarter, the lead peaking when James soared to the rim and tipped an alley-oop pass to Wade so he could have the dunk instead. The game was essentially over then, although the Mavs reserves fueled a late rally that made the final score look close, 105-94.

“We tried to play aggressive,” James said. “We’re a focused team. We had a great training camp. We came in with the same mindset we had at practice, use our speed and play with mental focus.”

James finished with 37 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Wade had 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Miami scored at least 30 points in each of the first three quarters.

“Celebration or not, we had a game plan and implemented it,” Wade said. “We came out and played a good game.”

Maybe the pregame festivities left the Mavs emotionally drained because they were down by 15 after one quarter and 21 at halftime. They then gave up 14 straight points early in the third quarter.

The blowout had less to do with an emotional hangover and more to do with exposing the slow process of breaking in a new rotation. Dallas lost center Tyson Chandler and backup point guard J.J. Barea and added guard Vince Carter, do-it-all Lamar Odom and backup guard Delonte West.

“We’re going to have to forge an identity with this team; it’s a different team,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “That’s work, and it’s going to take honesty, and it’s not going to be easy.”

Carter took Dallas’ first two shots, an 18-footer and a layup. Both missed. West started the second half in his place and finished with 10 points. Carter had five points, two rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes.

Odom – the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year, who was acquired from the Lakers a few weeks ago for merely a trade exception – entered to a standing ovation, and got fans roaring again when he made a 3-pointer that tied the game at 11. He missed his next five shots before getting ejected midway through the third quarter, but still left to loud cheers. He had four points and four rebounds in 13 minutes.

“We’ve got to get better and it will take a little time to get better,” Odom said.

Jason Terry sparked a Dallas rally, that started after Odom was tossed, and wound up leading Dallas with 23 points. Nowitzki scored 21 in three quarters. Shawn Marion scored 12 and broke the pinky finger on his left hand.

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki is back for the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. The supporting cast has a new look.

Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and Caron Butler are gone. But the front office has added Lamar Odom and Vince Carter to plug some of the holes, along with backup guard Delonte West. In a 66-game season, there is no telling how the older Mavericks will fare but the veterans know that making the playoffs will give them a shot at defending the franchise’s first title.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

DALLAS (AP)

While some teams, such as the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, have altered their rotations, the Oklahoma City Thunder have stood pat.

Kevin Durant scored 21 points and reserve James Harden added 16 Sunday to lead the Thunder to a 106-92 victory over the Mavericks in the preseason opener for both teams.

The Thunder reached the Western Conference finals last season before falling in five games to the Mavs.

Oklahoma City has kept its young rotation intact, and the Thunder expect a smooth transition into the regular season.

”It should help a lot as far as chemistry is concerned,” said Durant, the NBA scoring leader last season at 27.7 points per game, whose aggressive play led to a 13-for-14 night from the free-throw line.

”We’ve been together for a while. We know each other’s games. Hopefully, our young legs push us through it.”

Oklahoma City went 31 for 55 from the field and 10 for 21 from beyond the 3-point line to help negate 25 turnovers that led to 33 Dallas points.

”Offensively, we were sloppy with the ball,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. ”Too many turnovers. But that’s something we have to work on and we will correct.”

Lamar Odom, acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers in a trade on Dec. 11, had 14 points and seven rebounds in his Mavericks debut.

Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, leaders of the Mavericks’ title run, were in uniform and are healthy but were rested. Delonte West and Odom started in their place.

Dominique Jones and Roddy Beaubois took advantage of additional minutes to score 17 points apiece, pacing Dallas.

”(Nowitzki and Kidd) being out, we’re not going to be the same team, but that’s all right,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said.

”We need to see other guys. Our philosophy is that when we’re without any of our guys, the guys that are available need to get the job done. We weren’t able to do it tonight.”

The Mavs are working newcomers Odom, Vince Carter and West into their rotation, looking to make up for the losses of key rotation members Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and Caron Butler to trades or free agency.

The teams complete their two-game home-and-home exhibition set Tuesday night at Oklahoma City, and Nowitzki and Kidd are expected to play.

The Thunder took control with an 11-0 second-quarter run that included two 3-pointers from Daequan Cook, expanding a 25-24 lead after one quarter to 58-51 by halftime.

Oklahoma City went 7 for 11 from 3-point range in the first half, with Cook hitting 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.

Durant’s nine points in the third quarter, all on foul shots, pushed the Thunder to a 90-70 advantage entering the fourth.

Dallas was 7 for 21 from the floor in the third quarter as the Thunder turned up the defensive pressure.

”Our defense was pretty good,” Durant said. ”We were making our rotations, helping each other out, and we got to the free throw line.”

Dallas opened the fourth quarter with a 14-0 run and pulled as close as 93-88 on Ian Mahinmi’s dunk with 5:04 remaining.

But the Thunder scored the next five points, including a pair of jumpers from Eric Maynor, for a 98-88 edge with 3:21 left, closing out the Mavs.

That’s all for today.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Thanks for reading! .

After a trying, decade-long run that consistently placed them along the title’s periphery, the Dallas Mavericks finally claimed their first ever NBA championship last June. The fact that Dirk and the Mavs are the reigning champs still seems like a hazy dream — a vision almost too similar to a storybook to be real, and an image obscured just enough by the lockout to give it that ethereal glow. But the trophy itself is no fantasy, and the Mavs will set out this season to defend their right to another one just like it with every resource at their disposal.

It won’t be easy. Even with an impressive run of low-cost off-season additions, the Mavs are hardly in a position to repeat as the league’s champions:

Losing the “best offense”

Contrary to their offense-first reputation, the Mavericks were a surprisingly balanced team last year, as they finished the regular season ranked eighth in both offensive and defensive efficiency. It was that two-way effectiveness that really pushed Dallas over the top in the NBA Finals; although Dirk Nowitzki was a certifiable terror all throughout the Mavs’ playoff run, it was the team’s defensive flexibility that allowed them to corral LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with the title on the line.

Dwane Casey, the former Mavs assistant who now sits at the head of the bench for the Toronto Raptors, was a big part of that. It was Casey’s system that put Dallas’ many defensive elements into their appropriate context, and turned Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and Tyson Chandler into versatile, switchable, and highly deployable defensive weapons. Dallas just had so much size and mobility across the board, and that positional flexibility gave the Mavs an uncommon success in defending the pick-and-roll.

Things could get slightly tougher without Casey, even though his system has been handed off to assistant coach Monte Mathis. Yet they’re assuredly going to be more difficult without Tyson Chandler, who didn’t receive the long-term security or financial commitment he desired from the Mavs in free agency. Chandler is now a New York Knickerbocker, leaving some combination of Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi, Dirk Nowitzki, Lamar Odom, and Brandan Wright to fill in minutes as Dallas’ defensive anchor. Haywood is still quite underrated in that regard, but even at his best he’s a few steps below Chandler. He’ll battle opponents in the post, do his best do hedge screens, and generally make the right rotations, but Haywood consistently lags behind Chandler in terms of overall defensive efficacy.

It’s the depth at center that could give Dallas more significant problems, though. As is usually the case, Chandler’s one-time backup is ready to step in and produce. But what of the players behind him? Ian Mahinmi may be the most talented fouler in the NBA. Nowitzki and Odom would give Dallas a virtually unmatchable offensive alignment if they played center, but don’t have the same rotational value as Chandler or Haywood. Wright is athletic, but is undeniably a work in progress. Yet that group will have some huge responsibilities when Haywood is resting or plagued with foul trouble, and it’s hard to imagine them living up to last season’s benchmark.

The never-ending quest for improvement

Even though the Mavs will enter the 2011-2012 season having accomplished their greatest goal the year prior, they still face the same pressure that falls on every defending champ: the burden of being even better. Dallas can’t just be as good as they were last season; in order to counter all the moves that have been made, the development of young players around the league, and the more nuanced understanding opposing coaches now have of how to use their respective rosters, the Mavs will need to find some legitimate means toward actual improvement.

And looking up and down this roster, it’s hard to find compelling reason why Dallas would actually be a better team this season. Chandler’s departure obviously hurts quite a bit, as do the losses of Caron Butler and J.J. Barea. But above all, it was Dallas’ decision to value financial flexibility over all else that’s put them in their current position.

The Mavs have done an incredible job of upgrading their roster under these circumstances; the additions of Lamar Odom, Vince Carter, Delonte West, and the aforementioned Brandan Wright are downright gaudy considering their minimal financial costs. But how does the shift in personnel impact Dallas’ ability to field competitive lineups? They’ve bolstered their depth virtually across the board, but what have they given up at center in order to make that possible?

I think at best, you’re looking for a Mavs team that would essentially be a wash in terms of overall quality, as they compensate for some defensive slippage with offensive gain. Yet it’s hard to see — even in that best-case scenario — how the defending champs would meet their burden for improvement beyond their performance last season. Dallas’ moves to date have done well to mitigate some of the team’s free agent losses, but aren’t quite robust enough to completely erase them.

If you keep rolling the dice…

On the Mavs’ Media Day, new Maverick Vince Carter may have summed up Dallas’ playoff run best.

“[The Mavs] just made it happen,” Carter said. “It takes a lot of luck and opportunity, and they seized the moment. Could people honestly say they were going to win it at the beginning of the year? No, not really. Not even in the middle of the year. When you put a team like this together that’s committed and when you get a bunch of veteran guys, anything could happen.”

With a team like the one the Mavs had last season, anything could happen. Dallas put itself in a position to succeed time and time again, and rolled the dice. On the ropes against the Portland Trailblazers? Rolled a six. Comeback victory against the Lakers on the road thanks to a favorable call? Rolled a six. Need a knockout punch in Game 4 against the defending champs? Six. A complete blitzkrieg en route to an impossible comeback against Oklahoma City? Another one.

You get the idea, because we all witnessed it: Dallas got every single break they needed in every single series of last year’s postseason, and while that made their championship run one for the ages, it also makes it incredibly difficult to replicate. Dallas is a very good team, but thanks to surges and breaks and explosions at the best possible times, they — if only temporarily — became a truly amazing one. You, I, and the history books will never forget it.

As Carter says, anything could happen. But it’d be silly to expect the same result, even after the Mavs again put themselves in a position to roll the dice with quality regular season performance.

Gotta run!.

Credit: WFAA

J.J. Barea smiles as he talks about his beauty queen girlfriend.

Gotta run!.

Not much else going on in the NBA world today.

What do you guys think about this.

The Lakers have traded forward Lamar Odom and a second-round draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks for a first-round pick and an $8.9 million US trade exception, capping Los Angeles’ stunning 72-hour breakup with last season’s Sixth Man of the Year.

The Lakers and Mavericks announced the deal Sunday night, three days after Odom learned Los Angeles was attempting to trade him in a megadeal for New Orleans superstar Chris Paul.

After the NBA blocked that trade, Odom declined to report to the Lakers’ opening day of training camp on Friday. Odom then requested a trade, and the Lakers improbably swung a deal with the rival Mavericks, who swept Los Angeles out of the second round of last season’s playoffs.

Odom will aid the Mavs’ recovery from Tyson Chandler’s departure.

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