Well great doesn’t really seem like the right adjective.

The Dallas Mavericks have rounded the final turn, and find themselves coming down the stretch. Less than 4 weeks left in the season, and the Mavericks have lost their swagger.

The Mavericks are the oldest team in the league, the Boston Celtics are the second oldest. The Celtics have been through a stretch run before, and they ultimately taught the old Mavericks a valuable lesson.

Excuses are pointless; winning games is all that matters.

So despite being as healthy as they have been since the All-Star break, despite being well rested, despite playing at home, despite knowing they need a win to stay in the playoff push, the Mavericks lost.

The battle got physical, it got personal, it got intense, and it got ugly. The Mavericks had the Celtics on the ropes, yet could not close them out. They lacked the knock out punch, and ultimately got knocked out themselves.

When inspiration was evident, the Mavericks looked uninspired. When they needed to make a statement, they left us only with questions.

Did the Mavericks peak too early? The smooth, well-oiled rotation that Carlisle seemed to have set up looked ugly and disoriented.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, yet missed the shots down the stretch that Mavericks’ fans have come to take for granted. Jason Terry tried to inspire coming off the bench, ultimately growing cold down the stretch finishing with 18 points.

The East conquered the West. Boston handled the Mavericks in Dallas, and the Milwaukee Bucks went into Denver and beat the Nuggets. Meaning the Mavericks missed a chance to gain a game separation.

The Mavericks hopefully can regain their momentum, and regain their swagger. They have the firepower to win, but that doesn’t always mean wins should be taken for granted.

The Mavericks should have won the game. The excuses are pointless though.

So the Mavericks move on and hit the road starting on Monday in Charlotte. Needless to mention, but I will anyway, the Mavericks need to win on Monday

The Los Angeles Lakers lost tonight at Charlotte, so excuse me when I say a win is a win, and you should never take a win for granted.

The Mavericks won 108-100 at home against the Sacramento Kings. Yet the storyline is, Mavericks keep winning as the injuries pile up.

It was reported by numerous outlets that Jason Terry will be out a week to a month, depending on who you want to listen to. People within the organization I talked to briefly were a little more non-committal. All depends on how Terry responds to treatment is what I am told.

Without Terry, the Mavericks are losing a key scorer. Jason Terry is a powerful weapon coming off the bench, but Terry also is in the top 5 scorers in the 4th quarter in the whole league.

Stevenson provided some comic relief as he portrayed Terry’s famous jet maneuver after he hit a wide open 3 pointer in the corner.

Pile that on with Brendan Haywood going out with back problems, and the void in the paint was evident after Haywood was unable to return. The Mavericks also lost their head coach Rick Carlisle due to back to back technicals arguing calls.

Dwayne Casey stepped in and commanded the troops in Carlisle’s absence, while DeShawn Stevenson, J.J. Barea, and Rod Beaubois combined to fill Terry’s role.

An alarming observation was that no one was able to fill Haywood’s role.

Beaubois scored a career high 22 points, Dirk paced the club with 31 points, and Jason Kidd had 17 points and 12 assists.

After the game Carlisle said Haywood would be “day to day.” Carlisle said it was more cautious than anything, but he did say that Haywood was in “considerable amount of pain this afternoon, and that it tightened up during the game.”

Caron Butler continues to be the measure of consistency, and does not want to hear about injuries being an excuse. “The measure of a great team is to be able to respond to injuries and not to use them as an excuse. We have guys that need to step up if guys are not able to play.”

The Mavericks won their 10th straight game, and also ensured a 10th straight winning season.

The crew packed up and headed to the airport to head to Chicago. Haywood was walking with some obvious tightness, but did give the thumbs up as he walked away.