After the Mavericks got destroyed by the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night, it was as if Wednesday’s win in Atlanta didn’t even happen. It was understandable to feel the frustration, considering the way Dallas gave up 147 points and looked totally lost on defense against the undersized Warriors roster, but it was a reminder of a harsh reality:

The Mavs aren’t going to go on some epic winning-streak to immediately correct their slow start. Their climb back to being the team people thought they were going to be will take months, not days, if it happens at all.

As much as the fans and players would have liked for the team to have instantly activated a six-game winning-streak to erase their six-game skid that directly preceded it, it’s just not realistic to expect that. You don’t go from the sky falling with a six-game losing streak to then having it all figured out the very next day. Even with the win on Wednesday in Atlanta, the problems that plagued the team before are still present.

Their team defense has been dreadful for the last three weeks and that falls on each and every player on the team along with the coaches on the sidelines. Besides Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson on a smaller scale, no one is a reliable three point shooter on a team that comfortably sits last in the league in three point shooting percentage. There is an undeniable bad energy surrounding the team following weeks of losing and the removal of vital locker room presences like J.J. Barea and Courtney Lee.

There are no overnight fixes for any of these things.

It’s cliche, but all the team can do is take this one game at a time to get better.

They’re not going to instantly return to their 2019-2020 ways of being a top ten three point shooting percentage team with just one hot game, but shooting 40% from deep as a unit on Thursday night was a step in the right direction. Now they have to continue that with a strong shooting night on Saturday.

They’re not going to return to their defensive form of the first two or so weeks of the season in just one game. Especially two nights removed from giving up 147, but it’d be about as safe of a bet as there is that the team will be better tonight.

There is no quick fix to the bad vibes of extended stretches of losing besides the good vibes that come from extended stretches of winning.

Again, you can’t snap your fingers and fix all of your problems. Getting all of their players back from injury/health safety protocols certainly helps, but it does not instantly right all of the wrongs surrounding the Mavericks.

As much as it stings, the hole that they’ve dug themselves is one that is going to take a long time to recover from thanks to the rigors of an NBA season. If there is one positive to consider, their deepest lows have come at what can still be considered the “beginning” of a regular season that is basically six weeks old. If Dallas plays their full 72 game schedule, there are still 49 games left. Basically two-thirds of the season still remain.

Yes, Dallas has put themselves at a major disadvantage in their pursuit of becoming a serious playoff contender by sitting at five games under .500 at the one-third mark of the season, but very few teams around the league have absolutely set the world on fire to start the season. Even with their struggles, Dallas is still just four games back of the fourth seed and having “homecourt advantage” (whatever that might mean this season) in a potential playoff series. So many teams in the West are playing  just okay-to-good basketball that the Mavericks still have every opportunity to move up over the coming months. Again, not days… months. That’s still where we are in terms of time remaining this season.

They can’t right every wrong with a win tonight over the Warriors. It’s just one small step forward. On the flip side, they can’t completely sink their ship with a loss against the Warriors tonight, either. It will just be another step back that makes their journey even longer.

We’re undoubtedly at the point where every game really does matter if Dallas has plans to save their season, but we’re not yet at a “do or die” point in the season. They just need to string together wins. Three-in-a-row here or four-in-a-row there. Of course, they need to avoid ever coming close to a six-game losing streak ever again.

Can they do it? I believe so. I also think each and every person in that locker room, coaches and players alike, believes they can do it as well. They just have to make it happen one game at a time.