Two weeks and seven games into the season, only one victory for the Dallas Mavericks.  

After a gut-wrenching loss to the 76ers on Saturday night, Dallas fell to 1-6 on the young season and their schedule isn’t letting up anytime soon.  The Mavericks were gifted 5 early home games early on in the season and only managed a 1-4 record.    

Even though they have managed to stay relatively healthy through the first two weeks, Seth Curry could possibly return sometime this week, Dallas has dug themselves a hole that could already prove to be too much to overcome.

Week Two Record: 1-3
10/23: 133-103 L vs Golden State Warriors
10/25: 104-94 W vs Memphis Grizzlies
10/26: 96-91 L @ Memphis Grizzlies
10/28: 112-110 L vs Philadelphia 76ers

Entering the week with an 0-3 record and following that up with the Golden State Warriors and the then-undefeated Memphis Grizzlies, disaster was going to be hard to avoid.  Dallas was able to nab Wednesday game against Memphis for their first win of the year, but came up empty the rest of the week.

As of Sunday morning, the Mavs have the worst record in the league at 1-6. 

Stock Up
Wesley Matthews
Week Two: 18 PPG, 54% 3P%. Overall: 14 PPG, 44% 3P%
The Mavericks desperately needed a better season from the 31-year-old wing and after a couple bad games in week one, Matthews has put a big foot forward in being the type of player Dallas has needed him to be since signing him in the summer of 2015.

Yogi Ferrell
Week Two: 11 PPG, 88% FT%. Overall: 12.3 PPG, 89% FT%.
The second-year guard out of Indiana really deserved to be stock up after his week one performance, but he gets the nod this week for his continued solid play.  Ferrell has been counted on for major minutes in Seth Curry’s absence and he has continued to prove everyone that he is just a solid NBA player that should be able to contribute for years to come.  Undrafted, huh? 

Ferrell’s free throw percentage was 100% for the week before missing two free throws with less than a second left in last night’s game.

Stock Down
Nerlens Noel
Week Two: 6.3 PPG, 6 RPG, 18 MPG. Overall: 7.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 19.3 MPG
It’s hard to ask much more out of a guy getting less than 20 minutes per game.  However, mental lapses and greedy defending have become more obvious over the last week when watching Noel.  

When he’s in the game, Noel struggles to create his pick and roll efficiency as much as one would think he could. Dennis Smith Jr. played all four games this past week and there appears to be very little on-court chemistry brewing between the rookie guard and the 23-year-old big man.  That was one of the possibilities that excited Mavs fans the most heading into this season.

Week Three Schedule (Records as of Sunday afternoon)
10/30 @ Utah Jazz (3-3) 8:00 PM
11/1 @ Los Angeles Clippers (4-1) 9:30 PM
11/3 vs New Orleans Pelicans (3-3) 7:30 PM
11/4 @ Minnesota Timberwolves (3-3) 7:00 PM

Dallas will play three out of four games on the road this week where they are currently 0-2.  It’s an interesting bunch that the Mavericks play this week. Four Western Conference opponents who figure to be in the mix for the final four playoff spots in the west… or worse.  No one really knew with the likes of the Jazz and the Pelicans. 

New Orleans beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.  The Jazz are enjoying post-Gordon Hayward life so far.  The Timberwolves are still working to get their new roster completely meshing on and off the court.  The Clippers are off to a great start post-Chris Paul. 

It won’t be any easier for Dallas this week.  It will be a long road back to .500 or better if Dallas ever gets there.