[外電] Dallas Mavericks don't have look of a playoff team

[popstarkirby (POP先生)]

http://tinyurl.com/7q2lwg



When New Orleans comes to American Airlines Center, you anticipate an ugly
reminder of how quickly the Mavericks' season ended in a 4-1 first-round
playoff loss to the Hornets eight months ago.

Wednesday night was different.

Watching Dallas compete for a half before the Hornets actually started
playing defense and supreme point guard Chris Paul took over with 33 points,
11 assists, 10 rebounds and seven steals, you wondered if such a thing as a
first-round playoff matchup with the Hornets or another member of the Western
Conference elite is even conceivable.

After Hornets 104, Mavericks 97, the losing streak is at four.

And so the answer is no.

The Mavericks were good enough to split four games with the Hornets last
regular season, but the playoff series was over in five games.

And the way the Mavs have been losing road games to bad teams and struggling
to beat bad teams at home, a playoff trip of any kind – even as a No. 8 seed
losing quickly and dispassionately to the Los Angeles Lakers – seems
completely unrealistic.

Look, there are only nine teams competing for the eight playoff spots in the
West. Sacramento, Memphis and the LA Clippers, just to mention three teams
the Mavs have lost road games against, are long gone. So are Golden State,
Oklahoma City and Minnesota.

So the Mavs are just trying to make sure they aren't the one team of the nine
above .500 to end up in the lottery instead of the playoffs.

Right now that doesn't look like it can happen.

Coach Rick Carlisle simply doesn't have enough offense to work with on most
nights. That's despite the fact Jason Terry is playing as well as he ever
has, either here or in Atlanta.

Because Carlisle likes to have at least some offense – as in Terry – coming
off his bench, he started Dirk Nowitzki and four guys who combined are
averaging fewer points than Nowitzki against Denver on Tuesday and New
Orleans on Wednesday.

That the Mavericks still put 30 on the board in the first quarter and 56 in
the first half doesn't mean this will happen night after night.

That hasn't been the case.

The Mavericks didn't have enough offense to keep pace with the Kings on
Sunday night.

The Kings!

And despite 44 points from Dirk in Denver, and no Carmelo Anthony and
1-for-14 shooting from J.R. Smith, Dallas still couldn't outscore the Nuggets.

The Mavericks are nothing more than a 10-10 road team, and that road is about
to get tougher.

Between next week and the end of February, the Mavs play nine road games.
None of the opponents are seeded lower than Dallas' current position of ninth.

You would think the most winnable game would be the first one. Dallas goes to
Philadelphia (ninth in East) on Monday. But the Mavericks struggled mightily
to beat that team here two weeks ago, and the Sixers buried Portland by 21 at
home Wednesday night.

After that, the Mavericks' road games are against Milwaukee (eighth), Detroit
(fourth), the defending champion Celtics (third), Miami (sixth), Orlando
(second), Utah (seventh), Houston (eighth) and San Antonio (third).

Given how this team has fared away from AAC, how many of those nine look like
victories?

Three? At most?

Where do you suppose that might get them?

The good news for Mavs fans is that they aren't going to fall all the way to
No. 10 in the West.

But No. 9? Until further notice, or a trade that significantly upgrades the
Dallas offense, nine is the Mavericks' not-so-magic number for 2009.

--
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推 owenwangbaba:小牛打不進季後賽? 不意外..........好心酸
→ popstarkirby:沒進的話真的不意外，不過小牛也不可能掉到第十
→ popstarkirby:到時候變成沒辦法拼狀元也進不了就好笑了xDDD
→ whyruso78   :會有這麼鳥的冏境也只有小年做得到，真不簡單。
→ dirk418     :樓上的 我覺得快艇也蠻冏的耶
→ popstarkirby:快艇還可以拼狀元呀...
→ popstarkirby:雖然我開季前說快艇有機會威脅到西區強隊＝　＝a
→ dirk418     :那勇士也是蠻冏的 不過就如pops說的至少可以拼狀元
→ dirk418     :我們這種不上不下的 嗯 好像真的比較冏耶
→ popstarkirby:就不要到時候是因為對上勇士輸而進不了...就糗大了
→ popstarkirby:如果這樣一定會被炒作xD
→ dirk418     :喔 不會那麼冏吧 我先去查一下最後一場對誰
→ popstarkirby:小牛到現在還沒對過勇士..應該是不會輸啦＝　＝
→ dirk418     :最後一場不是勇士 不過也不好打 是火箭的啦
→ popstarkirby:那如果因為那場輸了而進不了一定也被炒很大...
→ dirk418     :那我來做一個結論 無論最後一場遇到誰 小牛輸而不能
→ dirk418     :季後賽 一定也會被炒很大
→ popstarkirby:中國媒體一定會炒作，不過對上火箭一定會特別大...
→ dirk418     :話說最後一個月的賽程 遇到黃蜂就有兩次
→ dirk418     :最後一個月的賽程真是吃緊
→ dirk418     :說到中國媒體 就會想到籃網 幸好最後一場不是對到它
推 neptune317  :黃蜂其實不穩 問題也不小 只是我們太弱
→ dirk418     :我相信對到籃網輸 應該可以炒更大大大大大.....
→ popstarkirby:很多隊都不穩呀...真的是小牛自己太弱
→ popstarkirby:對上後段球隊還要第四節最後一分鐘才分出勝負...