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Not New Orleans, Not San Antone, Not the LA Fakers. Sure, they were all on the road and let's face it - our road record is awful this season. We've dropped to 7th in the West and if we fall anymore, we could fall out of the playoffs altogether.

Is this because of the adjustment to Kidd, the lack of Diop or Magloire in the lineup, or Avery making absolutely poor decisions? I dunno. This is getting frustrating. We can go out and defeat the Memphis' of the world but we falter against equal or greater teams.

This team in my opinion is better by far than last year's team. We have depth and talent out the wazoo! We're just not executing like we should and need to and that has to do with coaching in my opinion. Maybe the players have tuned out Avery's scratching New Orleans drawl of a yell, maybe they just aren't buying into his system, the list can go on and on...

Ask yourself honestly this question, can the Mavs turn it around by playoff time? I am not sure. But, give this team a training camp together and next year they will be unstoppable. Watch the isolation offense almost disappear next year. Gawd, I hope so...

Give em a chance. They've been together less than 2 weeks and had to learn on the fly with very little practice time. They just came off 4 games in 5 days - and there are ZERO practices with a schedule like that.

If they had the whole team intact for a year, the NO-SA-LA trifecta on the road (along with Utah, the hardest place to win in the NBA) would be brutal. But they are right there, competitive with a real chance to win.

The schedule will get "normal" and then they'll get easier games and more practices, and we'll see something a lot better.

He could not hear his assignment through the towel.

You so wrong 2007!

Poor coaching. The reason we lost in San Antonio was because Avery sat Kidd in crunch time. The reason we lost in Los Angeles was because of awful defensive matchups on Kobe (as usual)

All three.

dirkforpres wrote:Poor coaching. The reason we lost in San Antonio was because Avery sat Kidd in crunch time. The reason we lost in Los Angeles was because of awful defensive matchups on Kobe (as usual)

bull ****.

that is not the reason we lost to san antonio. In hindsight, it looks bad because it didn't turn out. But even with Kidd on the floor, we still probably lose that game.

The Mavs simply aren't the better team.

FYI, we lost to SA, NOH, and Utah on the road all BEFORE the Kidd trade and while at full strength. Given that this is Kidd's eighth game in Dallas (at Utah), I'd say we've done pretty well. Now, if we manage to lose to these same teams at home (which we didn't do previously), I'll be worried.

One more thing: this road trip against top teams will REALLY help us come playoff time. New guys tend to acclimate better on road trips, and it's battles like these that will really toughen this team up for the postseason. I don't know what the outcome will be, but it can only help us.

Avery's decision making is leading the pack. First the coach loses the fans, then the players, but will he lose the owner? Only time will tell in the wonderful world of DAM...

DDansby123 wrote:One more thing: this road trip against top teams will REALLY help us come playoff time. New guys tend to acclimate better on road trips, and it's battles like these that will really toughen this team up for the postseason. I don't know what the outcome will be, but it can only help us.

I tend to agree with this assessment completely. While it has been terribly frustrating to watch all of these really close games all result in losses, I feel that these games will be helpful come playoff time. It is good that we are getting this experience now as apposed to the first round against a tough team.

It is a complete crap-shoot as to how this season will finish out in the Win/Loss column. All I know is that I would like to avoid SA and LA in the first round. We will have to get through at least one if not both of these teams in the long run, but I would much rather face NO, Utah, or PHO in the first. I think if we end on a nice run, starting with these next 6 games, we should be able to finish in the 3-6 range avoiding LA and SA.

Jasen777 wrote:The Mavs simply aren't the better team.

QFT

dirkforpres wrote:The reason we lost in Los Angeles was because of awful defensive matchups on Kobe (as usual)

Good thing we traded 4 of our top assets for a defensive stopper. Oh wait, nevermind.

Ozek wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Good thing we traded 4 of our top assets for a defensive stopper. Oh wait, nevermind.

I see what the problem is now: unrealistic expectations. You must think we could've traded our best assets and solved ALL our problems, right? Passing, defense, offense in the paint, slashing, leadership, etc., etc. All that could've been solved with a single trade, right? It just doesn't work that way.