Dallas Mavericks Aren't Dead Yet

Let me set the scene:

Dirk is putting on a fourth-quarter show like we hadn't seen in a long time.

With the Mavs clinging to a three-point lead, 91-88, and five-and-a-half minutes left, Dirk did his best to put the game away.

First, he deferred to an open Dampier, who slammed it home, bringing the crowd into the game.

Bowen responded by missing, not one, but two of his signature threes from the corner, and Dirk made them pay for that with a Kobe-style, "I'm getting the f@$king ball, and I'm going to make this f#@king shot" three-pointer.

A Mason miss leads to Dirk hitting another jumper, and suddenly the three-point lead has ballooned to ten.

But they weren't out of the woods yet.

The Spurs force Dirk to miss a jumper with 2:05, Spurs have the ball, and Mike Tirico says, "We've seen this movie before, a stop and a made three."

What do you think happens 16 seconds later? Roger Mason sinks a three (off of a Tony Parker miss and Tim Duncan offensive rebound). The ten-point lead the Mavericks had taken into the eighth minute of the fourth quarter had been cut in half.

Dallas calls a full timeout, 1:49 left in the fourth quarter.

It sounds trite to say it, but the Mavericks' entire season rested on those 149 seconds. A loss, and Cuban calling his team out in the media is wasted. A loss, and it would be official: these Mavericks have no heart.

A loss, and the Mavericks blow a late lead at home against a hated rival in the first game of a nationally televised back-to-back.

First, it got a little more interesting, with a pair of Parker free throws bringing it to 98-100. And like a hand that gets too close to a fire, the Mavs finally reacted in the swift fashion that they rarely do.

Howard gets the ball on the wing, and instead of juking a few times and going for the step-back jumper, he attacks. He gets the easy lay-up that Tony Parker lives off of, but with his speed and size, Howard should be doing it ten times a game.

Parker responds, and here's where the ghost of Avery is exercised.

Jason Kidd, who a little over a year ago would have watched the final seconds from the pine, instead finds his way to the corner, where he delivers the dagger. A dagger that the Spurs should be infinitely familiar with, as Bowen, Mason, Bonner and co. had delivered many of the same shots, breaking the hearts of opposing teams' fans without mercy.

It's the same shot that Mavs fans have seen made dozens of times over the past few seasons. The shot that Shane Battier, Mehmet Okur, J.R. Smith, Trevor Ariza, Peja Stojakavic have killed the Mavs with.

The shot that, as a team is coming back to within a possession or to, drops in, killing chances of a comeback. It's the very definition of a dagger.

Aaron Brooks dropped one in Houston a few weeks ago against Dallas. Now it was our turn.

The rest, as they say, was elementary.

What happened? How about the final exorcism of the Avery Johnson era, as well as signs of life at last from the Dallas Mavericks?

Sure, we've seen the signs before. The OT win against the Knicks, which snapped the Mavs out of their 2-7 start. Carlisle handing the reins of the offense to Kidd, which led to four wins over Golden State, Miami, Orlando, and Portland.

But soon enough, a loss happens. Not just a loss, but a heart-wrenching loss, usually a beatdown at the hands of a true contender, a la the Boston Celtics.

But this one could be different. Yeah, I've said it a number of times this season, and I may say it again before it's all over.

This came after a very public tongue lashing from Cuban. The players heard it before, apparently in Sacramento a month-and-a-half ago.

(Side note: It speaks to the character of the organization that the media never got wind of Cuban's speech in Sacramento. Do you think that it would have stayed quiet if Jerry Jones gave his team the same speech? Neither do I.)

Cuban's tirade does have a lasting impact.

This is the last stand for the Dallas Mavericks as we know them.

The players know that their world is going to change unless they win a playoff series. Their friends and fellow players for the last few years could be gone soon, unless they use their talent to its full potential over these next months.

This begs the question? How much do players like Dirk and Josh Howard want things to stay the same? Does Dirk want the core to remain intact? Does Josh Howard want to spend the rest of his career as a Maverick?

Another first-round exit or missing the playoffs completely should give us the answer.

They've got their work cut out for them. The Mavs play the Hornets tonight, the Suns and Blazers next week, and have games against the Lakers, Pistons, Hawks, Nuggets, Cavs, Jazz, Rockets, and two more against the Hornets.

It won't be easy, but winning never is.