Dallas Mavericks Must Add to Recent Collection Of Hollywood Hits

The Dallas Mavericks waxed the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night 94-80 and then encored the next evening with a gritty 93-84 victory over the LA Clippers.

Their back-to-back Staples Center romps were as out of character as they were important.

Those Mavs, the ones who blew a 2-0 Finals lead and then lost in consecutive first rounds, aren’t supposed to win these kinds of games.

History suggested—no, it promised—the team would return home 0-3.

In a small but paramount step in the right direction, Dallas defeated inner demons and imaginary curses en route to sending a message that roared from the Ft. Worth Stock Yards to the Cotton Bowl.

Maybe these Mavs aren’t those Mavs anymore.

They headed to Hollywood with six straight losses to the Lakers, most of them by less than 10 points, and a 2-12 record on the second night of back-to-backs in the City of Angels.

Kobe Bryant usually lights up the Mavs as if they represent his own Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, relishing the chance to single-handedly erase fourth quarter deficits, dashing the brave hopes of MFFLs across the Metroplex.

Something changed Friday night.

When it counted, Bryant and the Lakers looked more like a miniature cardboard tree in some Wyoming neighborhood’s nativity display.

The Mavs—still playing without versatile, fringe All-Star Josh Howard—delivered the blinding exhibit.

If the team is serious about returning to championship-level form, it must build on its impressive weekend showing.

This is it? I’ll take the Mavs domination of the defending champions in their house, not the Michael Jackson flick.

There are still countless questions to be answered, numerous concerns that linger like obnoxious in-laws.

Can we stay three more weeks?

Oh, dear. Um, sure.

The Lakers played without Pau Gasol, an All-Star and potential Hall of Famer who glues the offense together like he owns the Elmer’s corporation. Athletic, pogo-like specimen Blake Griffin, the top pick in this year’s draft, will miss the first six weeks of the season after busting his kneecap.

Coach Rick Carlisle should wonder how his squad would have responded had either of those difference makers seen any action.

In the team’s best end-of-game lineup, Howard would play at small forward, his natural position.

However, no one knows how he will handle a projected move to shooting guard as a starter.

Can he continue being one of the league’s best first-quarter performers in a new role?

Dirk Nowitzki missed nine-of-14 shots in Friday’s win, keeping his lifetime shooting percentage against the Lakers in the 30s.

The Dirkster must be more efficient from the field and impactful as a franchise-level star if the Mavericks want to win a more meaningful match.

Carlisle still needs to see how Nowitzki might perform at center in a close fourth quarter against a playoff opponent. If he wants to play Erick Dampier or Drew Gooden there, whom can he tell among Howard, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry to sit down?

Would he bench the German forward around whom his team is built?

Knowing that this lineup could be exposed defensively given the wrong matchups, any intelligent coach with said mismatches at his disposal will try to force Carlisle to use most of his timeouts in the third quarter, so he cannot swap players for defensive purposes in the final minutes.

Gregg Popovich and Phil Jackson will make it a point to run plays that force Nowitzki to guard Tim Duncan and Gasol in the post as much as possible.

Even with these nagging questions, it would not be facetious for fans to celebrate what this weekend’s unexpected results could mean.

Dallasites should remember what the Mavs did in a February tilt in San Antonio when both Duncan and Manu Ginobili sat in street clothes.

With the Spurs reduced to Tony Parker as their primary athletic weapon, the Mavs allowed the French point guard to explode for 37 points and conceded an easy 93-76 defeat.

Those vapid Mavs also coughed up a game in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder missing both Kevin Durant and Jeff Green.

How many reading this column thought they could take advantage of the Gasol-less Lakers last week?

Maybe things started to turn when the Mavs thoroughly outclassed the injured Spurs in a five-game, first-round set.

Then again, there was the Denver series and the opening night loss to the Washington Wizards.

If fans can forget that this team is harder to understand than a McDonald’s at a heart hospital, they can appreciate consecutive victories over the champs and a squad that looks like it could compete for the playoffs at full strength.

The Mavericks are a long way from besting three Western Conference foes in April and May, much less toppling Boston, Orlando, or Cleveland in June.

Still, there’s a lot to like about this first step.