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.

With Caron Butler sitting out with what I’m told is a “terrible reaction” to some medication, the Mavericks are playing shorthanded.

I’ve hinted at it, and tonight I am convinced of it. A big key for the Dallas Mavericks will be the backup point guard position. Both Rod Beaubois and J.J. Barea got minutes in the first half, giving Jason Kidd some rest.

On a night when Kobe Bryant doesn’t score until 3:30 left in the half, the Mavericks were unable to take advantage.

A one minute stretch that sticks out in my mind in the first half is with 5 minutes left in the half. Rod Beaubois was forced out of the game with a bloody nose, Carlisle decided against bringing in Jason Kidd into the game. He went with J.J. Barea.

Barea hit an open jumper with 5 minutes to go in the half to bring the Mavericks within 3 of the Lakers. At this point, Phil Jackson summons the scoreless Bryant back into the game, Carlisle countered with bringing Kidd into the game.

Barea stayed in the game.

Down three, the Mavericks had the ball. Barea was able to drive into the lane, pumped faked getting the defender in the air, leaving an open 2 footer for Barea. He missed the bunny.

Still down three, Haywood blocks Odom’s shot leading to a 2 on 1 with Barea leading the break. Pushing it up the court, Barea got to the basket and missed the lay-up.

Two key misses in a key stretch.

After the Barea miss, Bryant got on the boards with an off-balance jumper fading out of bounds.

Carlisle replaces Barea with Shawn Marion.

So with Kobe Bryant struggling to find his stroke, the Lakers still lead the Mavericks by one at half.

I’ll be watching to see if Carlisle uses Beaubois or Barea in the second half. My guess we will see Kidd all second half.