Dec 23, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) takes a shot over Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) during the first half at the ATT Center

The Mavericks got a surprise holiday gift Sunday night with the unexpected return of Dirk Nowitzki, who announced just before the game he was ready to go and came of the bench during the Dallas Mavericks visit to the San Antonio Spurs.

Unfortunately, while Dirk had a very solid game with limited minutes, most of the rest of the team continued to struggle.  While Dallas has had more than its share of blowout losses this year, San Antonio enjoyed the biggest one yet with a 129-91 rout.

Danny Green had a career-high 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting and the Spurs set a franchise record with a staggering 20 three-pointers out of 30 tries and shooting 56% overall.  Under those circumstances it is quite likely the Spurs would have won regardless but the Mavericks didn’t help them.

The Good:

Surprisingly, there is some.

Dirk had a solid return, putting up 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting in just 20 minutes, plus 6 rebounds.

Brandan Wright had another solid outing in limited minutes (13), and his rebounding seems to be on the rise.  He was 3-of-5 for 8 points and 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Darren Collison had a decent game as well, with 15 points to lead the Mavs on 6-of-9 shooting.

Vince Carter started looking more like his early season persona, hitting for 13 points and 5 rebounds and Jae Crowder shot the ball well and grabbed 4 rebounds in limited minutes.

The Meh:

Collison only dished out 2 assists.

The Mavericks were only outrebounded 41-39 and considering the circumstances, that isn’t so bad.

The Ugly:

Dallas was outshot, yes – but when the other team hits 56% and 67% on threes that’s likely.  How much of it was Dallas’ bad defense and how much was the hot-shooting Spurs?  Some of both for sure.

However, the stat that Dallas has to own again because they continue to do it is another 20-turnover game, 6 by O. J. Mayo alone.   Kawhi Leonard is an adept thief but he had 5 steals by himself and Manu Ginobilli had 4.   The Mavericks have now had 7 games with 20+ turnovers, 1 shy of a franchise record and we’re less than 1/3 of the way through the season.

O. J. Mayo once again had a poor game in addition to his turnovers, hitting 3-for-8 and 7 points.

Shawn Marion, Dominique Jones, Elton Brand and Roddy Beaubois were a combined 4-for-20.

Bernard James is still AWOL for reasons unknown.

Takeaways:

In fairness, the Spurs probably would have one this game on three-point shooting alone.  That being said, the Mavs didn’t put up much of a fight.

Mayo had another bad game and it’s very telling how this happens.  The excuse sans Dirk has been that other teams are keying on him.   Great scorers always draw attention from the other team and they either succeed or fail.  The problem with Mayo and Darren Collison as well, although there is more to Collison’s issues, is consistency.   Everyone has a bad game now and then but that’s not what is happening for Mayo.  He is truly hot and cold and on any given night he can be unstoppable or completely ineffective.

The other big problem that hopefully Dirk can solve is having another viable option.  Clearly Chris Kaman is one, Vince Carter is one and Elton Brand should be one (but hasn’t been this season) but Dirk is presumably going to become the primary option again.  However, that doesn’t solve the problem of no one else stepping up if he’s not hitting or even if he is…he can’t win games by himself.

The team looked confused at times on both ends of the floor.  It’s a little early to expect them to run like a well-oiled machine but as I’ve alluded to earlier, losing an experienced driver and in fact, one of the best ever in Jason Kidd is having a dramatic effect which will only be worsened now with Derek Fisher’s departure.

Dirk basically came out and admitted as much when he commented to ESPN that the team’s basketball IQ decreased when Kidd left.

What can be done to raise the IQ?  A trade for Jose Calderon?  Letting Vince Carter be the “point forward/combo guard?”  Someone needs to take the reins and make good decisions.

Obviously the team needs to continue to work on shooting, rebounding and turnovers.  It may be coincidence that the Mavs had a slightly better rebounding performance upon Dirk’s return as I theorized they might but it’s too early to tell.

Next up:

Things don’t get any easier as the Mavs will face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, followed by the 15-13 Denver Nuggets on Friday then a rematch with the Spurs on Sunday.  Better get yer game on fellas…

Dec 15, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jose Juan Barea (11) celebrates a play during overtime against the Dallas Mavericks at the Target Center. The Wolves defeated the Mavericks 114-106 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Dallas Mavericks journeyed once again into overtime only to fall again, this time to the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-106.

While Minnesota was missing their best player, Kevin Love, they did get a boost from the return of Ricky Rubio, who provided a spark of the bench as he played for the first time since injuring his knee last year.

The Mavericks led 32-22 after the first quarter but were outscored 32-13 in the second, giving the Timberwolves a substantial advantage at the half which lasted until the final period when the Mavs came storming back to tie the game.  The overtime period proved fatal for the Mavs, however, as they came out of the gate cold and only scored 4 points.

Rubio came off the bench to score 8 points but added 9 assists and 3 steals.  Overall the Twolves had balanced scoring from 6 players in double figures led by Nikola Pekovic who had 21 points and 9 rebounds.

The Good:

The Mavs were paced by O. J. Mayo and Derek Fisher, who both scored 20 points, a season-high for Fisher.  Elton Brand added 15 points and 7 rebounds while Shawn Marion had 14 and 10.

The Mavericks shot over 46% from the floor and 50% from behind the arc so it certainly was a game in which they were competitive.

The Meh:

A couple of guys didn’t have either stellar or poor nights.  Nothing to see here people…move along.

The Ugly:

Darren Collison had another poor shooting night, going 2-8 for 7 points and 3 assists.

O. J. Mayo committed another 5 turnovers and the team totaled 19.  Over the 3-game losing streak the Mavs averaged over 22 turnovers per game and that is never, ever going to increase the totals in the win column.  End of story.
Overall the Mavs didn’t play horribly until OT, when everything went the Twolves way.

Takeaways:

The Mavericks have lost three in a row and that’s never great, but two of the losses were in overtime to good teams.  For the year the Mavs have only won one game against a team over .500 and many of the losses have been blowouts.   Progress?

The battle for the boards again went the other team’s way and that’s not surprising considering the Twolves are the #1 team in the NBA in rebounding differential and rebounding differential and the Mavs are dead last.  Consider that, the numbers were about where you’d expect.

That doesn’t change the mystery of WHY the Mavs are such a poor rebounding team.  Even compared to last year, what are the changes?  Chris Kaman and Elton Brand are certainly better under the glass than Brendan Haywood and Ian Mahinmi and for that matter, better than Dirk.   Mayo edges out DeShawn Stevenson and Jason Terry.  Marion, Vince Carter and Brandan Wright are constants.  Neither Bernard James nor Troy Murphy has helped either.  What is missing on the boards seems to be Jason Kidd?

The only possible explanation I can think of is that having Dirk on the floor pulls the opponents bigs away from the basket.   Despite Elton Brand and Chris Kaman having effective midrange games and Murphy in theory being a 3-point threat, the Mavs continue to struggle.  Stretching the floor is somewhat cliché’ but it can be effective and Dirk is uniquely dangerous from long range as a shooter, passer and even as a threat to put the ball on the floor and drive so he always merits attention and often a double-team.  Since the discrepancy is on the offensive end, if the rebounding improves when he returns, we’ll have an answer.

Next Up:

The Mavericks host the Philadelphia 76ers Tuesday night in their last opportunity to “practice” with an average team before facing a couple of juggernauts, the Miami Heat and Memphis Grizzles.    Previews coming up on The Smoking Cuban.