Mavericks Get Knocked Out of NBA Playoffs Again

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There was a time when the Dallas Mavericks lost NBA playoff series because the team didn’t play defense. After the defense improved some, the Mavericks got knocked out of the playoffs because they lacked heart.

Now the Mavericks are losing playoff series because, well, I really don’t know.

Call it the “Cuban Curse” or whatever else that may apply, but Dallas lost their first round series against San Antonio on Thursday night, falling to the Spurs 97-87.

After a mid-season trade saw Dallas acquire Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from the Washington Wizards, the Mavericks surged to the fourth-best record in the NBA.

With a combination of experience, size and depth, Dallas was expected to give the Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money in the Western Conference.

But the Spurs won the series 4 games to 2, and Dallas proved yet again that they can’t get the job done when it matters most.

In all fairness to the Mavericks, drawing the Spurs in the first round was perhaps the worst possible opponent they could face.

San Antonio has won four NBA championships for a reason. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has maybe the best defensive mind in the game.

When Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan are healthy, San Antonio is tough to beat. With contributions from Richard Jefferson and George Hill, the Spurs become that much more difficult to defeat.

Even when San Antonio took a 3-1 series lead, Dallas fought back to win game 5 and overcame a 21-point deficit in game 6 to take a brief one-point lead.

After taking a 57-56 lead with 4:56 left in the third quarter, the Mavericks never got a defensive stop or scored a basket when they needed it. In fact, the Spurs regained the lead just 21 seconds later and never relinquished it.

San Antonio advances to the next round to face Phoenix while the Mavericks will go home.

Dallas has made 11 straight NBA playoff appearances and has won at least 50 games every season since 2001.

Despite all that success, the Mavericks lost in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in the past four years.

After Dallas blew a 2-0 series lead against the Miami Heat during the 2006 NBA Finals, the Mavericks have never been the same.

The following season, Dallas had the best record in the NBA but lost in the first round of the playoffs to the 8th-seeded Golden State Warriors.

Owner Mark Cuban has spared no expense in building a roster he believes can win an NBA title.

With Dirk Nowitzki serving as the centerpiece, Cuban has surrounded him with countless combinations, but all of them have failed.

Cuban fired former coach Avery Johnson believing that would solve the Mavericks’ problems, bringing in former Indiana coach Rick Carlisle.

But just as Johnson failed to get Dallas to the NBAs promised land, Carlisle has failed just as miserably.

Whether it’s a continued inability to defend at crucial times, a questionable offensive philosophy that runs through Nowitzki, coaching, no heart or just plain bad luck, the Mavericks appear to be jinxed.

Among the questions facing the Mavericks is Nowitzki, who could choose to become a free agent this summer. He’s steadily said he won’t, but after the game, Nowitzki was noncommittal about his future.

“I haven’t really thought about my future,” he said. “I guess I have some time now to think about my future and think about my options.”

It’s not just Nowitzki that has to think about the future.

Cuban will try to manufacture a team that can make a playoff run next season, but with an aging roster and no obvious answers for what ails them, Dallas may have to wait a long time before their dreams of an NBA championship are realized.