Dallas Mavericks Early Season Report

I know it's more traditional to do this kind of report after the first twenty games. I, however, am a very non-traditional fellow. So here is your twenty-six game report.

Let's start with what we know about the Dallas Mavericks: nothing. Okay, we know a couple of things. However, if you take everything we know and shine a light on it, what you end up looking at is, well, nothing. At least nothing of any significance. But let’s try anyway.

First, they are playing poorly against the East. After finishing last season a blistering 27-3 versus the Eastern Conference, the Mavs are a lackluster 6-5 so far. If nothing else in basketball universe is knowable, it is certain that the best way to pad your record is by playing teams in the East. How else could the Toronto Raptors make the playoffs? To be considered an elite team, the Mavericks must put away Eastern Conference opponents.

Second, they are playing well against division rivals (6-2). This includes a perfect 3-0 against Houston so far and a thirteen-point victory over defending champs, San Antonio. Unfortunately, they also suffered a two-point loss to the Spurs who were without Tim Duncan. The Mavs currently own the best in-division record in the Western Conference. What does that mean? Nothing, right now. But down the road in an admittedly very low probability tie-break situation, it could be the difference between winning and losing the Southwest Division which could easily be the difference between being seeded first or second come playoff time.

Finally, coach Avery Johnson is struggling to find a consistent starting five. This is due mainly to injuries and suspensions, and to a lesser degree, disappointing production. However, the bottom line is that consistency breeds comfort on the court. Dallas needs to figure out who is going to do the heavy lifting on this team. And so far it isn’t Nowitzki whose scoring is down three points per contest since last season.

All this adds up to more questions. How can the Mavericks lose to the Atlanta Hawks but soundly beat the San Antonio Spurs? Who will step up to fill the scoring void if Dirk can’t get his touch back? And what happened to the vaunted Avery Johnson defensive mindset of the past couple years? This team looks more Nellie than ever.

That being said, it’s a long road and as Coach Johnson pointed out, "We haven't played our best basketball yet, but this really is a good time of the year not to be playing your best basketball."

Maybe so, but there’s never a good time of the year to be playing your worst basketball.