Mavericks vs. Clippers: Dallas Heartbroken After Chauncey Billups' Game-Winner

The Dallas Mavericks are the defending NBA champions but many have pointed to their 8-7 record as a disappointment to begin this season.

While they are certainly right, Dallas has been on the verge of victory three times this season against top teams, only to get sunk late by devastating three-pointers. 

All three of those losses came against top contending teams in the West, on the road.

First, it was Kevin Durant who stopped the Mavs from picking up a huge road victory in Oklahoma City in the NBA's first week.

Then, Derek Fisher of all people hit a huge three to give the Lakers an ugly win over Dallas at home.

Tonight, it was Chauncey Billups' turn to break Dallas' heart by hitting an eventual game-winning three just moments after Jason Terry had put the Mavs ahead with a three of his own.

So, the Mavs now sit at 8-7, but they are these three losses away from being 11-4, with three huge road victories over Western Conference contenders.

Obviously, "almost" is only good for horseshoes and hand grenades, and still there is zero doubt the Mavs record to this point in the season is disappointing. 

But the point is, this team's talent goes far beyond their record. I'm simply shocked to see so manyp people counting the Mavs out of contention already so early in the season.

It's almost like people watched their first two games vs. the Heat and Nuggets, saw they got blown out and didn't pay attention to anything they've done since.

They are finally beginning to get their legs back and begin to gel as a unit as evidenced by their solid performances against the two LA teams this week.

While sure I would have loved to see them come out with one or two wins, they still showed they're a much better team than a lot of people want to give them credit for. 

Mark Cuban brought up some interesting points in the NBA pregame show, where he said he was not surprised his team did not get off to a hot start this season.  

Cuban mentioned that the more athletic teams got off to the hot starts in the season because they will always have young legs, but because of the lockout, the more veteran-laden squads would take more time to really hit their stride, which obviously includes the Mavericks.

Not to mention the fact that the Mavericks have plenty of new pieces that they needed to incorporate into their rotation, including Lamar Odom, Delonte West and Vince Carter. 

Cuban said that going into the year he would have been happy if they went 10-10 their first 20 games, but wouldn't have been surprised if they started 5-15; all he cared about was making the playoffs.

While it is heartbreaking to watch them keep failing in late-game situations, if the owner of the team is not going to panic, neither am I. The defending champions should earn at least that amount of respect just 15 games into the season.

The Mavs shouldn't be the favorites to win the title; they have too many question marks, but for people to rule them out is ridiculous. If Dallas can just start to play defense at the end of games, which they will, they will be right there in the thick of the West by the end of the season.