What’s the expression? Take the good with the bad? Let’s go with that.

Yes, the Mavericks lost in dramatic fashion last night, bringing their overtime record to a dismal 0-5 this year.

Steve Kerr said last night that he didn’t believe in moral victories. Sorry Skippy(What Bulls fans called Steve in Chicago). Last night was a perfect example of a moral victory.

All of the NBA universe can act like Oklahoma City played a bad game last night. They didn’t show up. They gave the Mavericks every chance to win.

Really? I watched every minute of that game. The Mavericks shot the ball extremely well in the 1st quarter, which had them thinking they could take down the defending Western Conference Champions.

I’m pretty sure everyone noticed that we had a point guard last night as well. A very good one at that. Darren Collison was getting anything he wanted. He hit all 4 of his three point attempts, which began to open up the floor for him to drive. He ended up with 32 points on 13-22 shooting.

This is what Dirk Nowitzki can bring to a guy like Collison. Nowitzki’s ability to spread the floor for his teammates will do wonders for some of these guys.

Then there was Dominique Jones who came off the bench and delivered two big plays. He hit a running buzzer beater 3 at the end of the 3rd Quarter, giving the Mavericks the momentum heading into the final frame. The other highlight…well you can see if for yourself.

 

Those were some of the good things. Then there was O.J. Mayo and one of his worst games of his career. Turnovers have plagued the Mavericks all season, and O.J. Mayo is certainly not an exception. You look at his TOPG and it’s only at 3.1 per game for the season. What you don’t see are some of the real bad games. Last night was one of them. Not only did he go 1-7 from the field, but he had some costly turnovers and mental errors in the final quarter.

“Juice gotta go back to playing the way he was when I was out,” Nowitzki said. “I don’t know what’s been going on lately. It looks like he doesn’t have the confidence.

Should the Mavericks have won this game? Yes. Did they? No.

Despite all of that, the Mavericks already have a different look about them since Nowitzki’s return. Let’s give Dirk a little more time and then we can start to see what they can be with their star back in top notch form.

If we can get Collison playing at a high caliber level, and get Mayo to gel more with the new look, the Mavericks can still surprise some people.

What’s Next? 

Unfortunately, the Mavericks don’t have much time to recover from last night’s debacle. They return home to face a Denver Nuggets squad tonight, fresh off of their win over the L.A. Lakers Wednesday night.