Texas Tumble: Three Elite NBA Teams Struggle Through First Weeks

Their playoff exits in 2006 to the Heat and in 2007 to the Warriors can be modestly described as demoralizing.  Nowitzki has shown flashes of passion since then, but he also renders himself dead when it counts. 

The Mavs had the Rockets and Lakers in their grasp at home going into the final period, but in the fourth quarter of those games, Nowitzki scored one point and zero points.  These are the teams he has to light up in the fourth quarter.  

If the Mavs are going to turn it around at all, it has to start with Nowitzki actually making field goals when the Mavs need it most.  He is by far their primary scorer.  The next most reliable scorer is Josh Howard.

Nowitzki has played well, otherwise, but until he starts doing something for his team in those desperate and nail-biting moments, not much more can be said about the plight of the Mavericks.

Except for this: Rick Carlisle and Jason Kidd can get it done for these Mavs.  They can change the culture, give the team energy on defense and offense, and make them winners again.  It might take some time, but these Mavs might be a dark horse in the spring.  

Or, they could be in the lottery.

Houston Rockets

They're 4-3, losing only to the Celtics, Lakers, and Blazers.  It might not be great, but is it really that bad?  Ah, well, you have not watched them play.  A sign of great teams is that they can win even when they play ugly.  The Rockets definitely know how to do that.  

They have done it for four years.  Bad starts are also typical for these Rockets.  Two of their 50-win seasons in the last four years started out 15-15.  This core knows how to step it up late in the season (see: 22-game winning streak).  However, this time around, the Rockets are not supposed to look so bad.  What do I mean by "bad"?  Let me describe it to you.

Against the Lakers, the Rockets played a solid first half.  Their young, but energetic role players, Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry have been a blessing.  Luis Scola is on fire.  Chuck Hayes has played phenomenal defense.  

But then, after 10 beautiful minutes against the best team in basketball, it all turned to hell.  What do the Rockets do during these stretches?  Almost every offensive play is a ridiculous jump shot without any effort to get to the basket.  Everything else is a botched layup, or something worse altogether...Yao without his shooting touch.  It goes bad, all around.  

Tracy McGrady has been two-faced.  He has had two 27+ point nights followed by two single-digit duds.  Artest started the season on fire, but since has resorted to shooting threes instead of using his body to get in the lane.  Yao is just off with his shot, which will probably fix itself pretty quickly.

However, as the season is so young, shooting slumps and rust are not out of the ordinary.  That's what this boils down to.  It looks like it will only get better for the Rockets, barring injury.  Three All-Stars don't stay cold for long (McGrady almost always turns it up about 20 games into the season).  

They have depth, and their defense comes to play every night.  This team has a habit of starting badly and then getting it together later on.  They are a cohesive unit, and as of now, Artest isn't the problem.  And the team's rock, their beacon of consistency and character, Shane Battier, has yet to play a minute.

Nevertheless, four of their five starters are in shooting slumps, and when that happens, you know you still need to sweep the dust off from the offseason.  

All three of these Texas teams hope it's that simple.

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