The Dallas Mavericks have lost five of eight games with all five coming against potential playoff foes.
In just the last week, the Mavs have dropped highly anticipated measuring-stick games at home to the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. In the process they lost their long-held grip on the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference standings to the Lakers.
This downturn comes after a super run of 18 wins in 19 games with perfection ruined only by a buzzer-beater at the Denver Nuggets.
"What do you want us to do? You cant be negative now," Dirk Nowitzki said. "We still have a month left in the season and we're trying to make a little run and take some momentum into the playoffs and go from there. But, this is too early to pack it in now."
How the slide started, coughing up a 17-point, second-half lead at home to the Memphis Grizzlies on March 6, stings more than the losses to the Lakers and NBA-best Spurs, Jason Terry said.
"It's just disheartening when you lose to somebody like Memphis," Terry said. "I mean that’s a team your’e supposed to beat. Hey, this one here, we wanted to win it. It didn’t happen for us and we've got to stay positive and we got to find our rhythm back. We have to have a rhythm to how we play and that’s when we’re at out best and obviously it's not there for whatever reason."
For the record, the Grizzlies, who currently hold down the eighth-seed, took the season series with the Mavs, 3-1, including two one-point wins in Dallas. Not that bulletin-board material means much in professional sports, but if the two teams meet in the first round of the playoffs, Memphis will surely remember just how disheartening it is to lose to the Grizz.