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A fistful of statistical dribbles to set up the Mavericks home date with Denver on Friday night:

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Rick Carlisle joins Galloway & Company to discuss the Mavericks playing after being eliminated from playoff contention, who he wants to keep for next season and much more. Listen

As badly as he was hoping to shave late Wednesday night -- only to be foiled by what he described as a “terrible, terrible” loss to Phoenix -- Dirk Nowitzki is playing for something else Friday night: He’s 32 points shy of 25,000 for his career. When he gets there, Dirk will be the 17th member of the 25,000-point club.

Denver has officially supplanted the Mavs as the team with the league's second-longest active playoff streak. This season marks the Nuggets’ 10th straight in the postseason, behind only San Antonio’s 16 in a row.

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The Nuggets, however, have only advanced past the first round once in those previous nine trips to the playoffs. In 2009, Denver made it to the Western Conference finals, beating Dallas in five games in the second round along with way.

Denver arrives in town having become just the second team in history to sweep all three teams from Texas on the same homestand. Phoenix did it in November 2000, and the Nuggets beat Dallas, Houston and San Antonio -- in that order -- earlier this month.

Denver’s JaVale McGee shoots 50.5 percent from the field at home and a whopping 62.6 percent on the road. That’s the league’s biggest such discrepancy, with Mavs alumnus Jason Terry suffering from the opposite sort of gap at 48.7 percent from the field at home in Boston and 37.7 percent on the road.

DALLAS – We’ll have to wait a week to hear Dirk Nowitzki put the Mavericks’ 12-year playoff streak in perspective and discuss his emotions after that remarkable run ended.

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Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks' 12-year playoff streak coming to an end. Listen

“I’ll be reflective after the season’s over,” Nowitzki said after Thursday’s practice, about 12 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers’ late win in Portland officially eliminated the Mavs from playoff contention. “We’ve still got four games and I don’t want to mail it in.

“I want to play hard and hopefully win some. I think a winning season would be nice for this tough, up-and-down season, so that’s what we’re going for.”

The 38-40 Mavs must win out to accomplish the goal of having their 13th consecutive winning season. As far as Nowitzki is concerned, that makes Friday night’s home date against the playoff-bound Denver Nuggets a big game.

“That’s really all I’m focused on now,” said Nowitzki, the only constant on the Mavs’ roster throughout the playoff streak. “When we do the exit interviews, I’ll do plenty of reflecting, trust me. Until then, I think we’ll talk about the next opponent and see what’s going on here and see if we can make this a winning season somehow.”

That’s the mentality that coach Rick Carlisle is demanding from the Mavs.

“We still want to get back to .500,” Carlisle said. “We want to have a chance to go above .500. If the playoffs are off the table, they’re off the table. We’ve still got to do everything possible to finish this thing out with pride and dignity. We obviously took a step back last night, so how we bounce back tomorrow is important.”

DALLAS – It’s not unusual for Shawn Marion to use colorful language in the locker room, even when he’s in a good mood.

But you know the Matrix is mad when he drops the dreaded E word. And Marion mentioned effort, or a lack thereof, repeatedly after the Mavs managed to let the Suns snap a 10-game losing streak with an 11-point win Wednesday night.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks' 12-year playoff streak coming to an end. Listen

“You can’t control the ball going in the hoop, but you can control your effort,” Marion said. “I think when you’re not able to go out there and give it your all, give it 110 percent, then something’s wrong. Maybe you need to sit down, you know?

“At the same time, there’s no reason we should have lost this game tonight. Being a professional athlete, dealing with the ups and downs we’ve had this season, you’ve got to look at yourself and ask, ‘Are you giving it your all? Are you doing what’s in your control to go out there and compete and leave it on the floor?’ …

“Effort is the only thing you can control. You can’t control the ball going in or if you can a turnover here or there or whatever or vice versa, but you can control your effort. That didn’t happen tonight.”

Marion didn’t single out any particular Mavs, saying they were all at fault.

A few more notes from what might have been the Mavs’ most embarrassing loss of the season:

1. Dirk won’t sit: The Mavs are officially eliminated from playoff contention, but Dirk Nowitzki has no plans to call it a season.

Nowitzki said he has no intention to sit out any of the Mavs’ final four games.

“I’m going to finish the season like everybody else and try to win the next game,” Nowitzki said. “Try to get at least to .500. We’d love to finish with a positive record. That means something and we’re going to fight for it.”

Nowitzki, who sat out the fourth quarter Sunday after aggravating bone spurs in his ankle, said he felt “fine” after taking a little longer than usual to get loose early in the game.

2. Hairy situation: The Mavs grew tired of .500 beard talk two weeks ago, when they failed to reach the break-even point, getting blown out by the Indiana Pacers.

It’s a subject they certainly don’t want to discuss at this point. They’re now 0-for-3 when they have a chance to reach .500 since sprouting those beards.

“Everything is just being overblown,” said Vince Carter, one of six Mavs who are part of the pact. “All the beard, this, that – let’s just take care of business, just win the game. When that time comes, we’ll take care of it. If not, it is what it is. Right now, it’s just all about winning. That’s what it has to be.”

3. Death by Dragic: The Mavs didn’t make a serious attempt to sign Goran Dragic this summer before he agreed to a four-year, $30 million deal with the Suns. Whether he would have been a long-term solution in Dallas is debatable, but he definitely dominated the Mavs’ stopgap point guards Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Dragic had 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 13 assists.

“Dragic was the best player on the floor,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “He shredded us really from the start of the game to the end.”

Darren Collison, the 25-year-old the Mavs traded for this summer, had three points on 1-of-6 shooting and three assists in 19 minutes off the bench. Mike James, the 37-year-old D-League callup-turned-starter, had nine points and three assists in 27 minutes.

DALLAS -- If the Dallas Mavericks reach for their razors now, their wrists might be in serious danger.

This was supposed to be the night the Mavs finally shaved those ridiculously bushy .500 beards that represent how much a proud franchise’s standards have been lowered during this miserable season.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks' 12-year playoff streak coming to an end. Listen

Instead, it ended up being the night that the Mavs buried their dozen-year playoff streak.

Technically, the Los Angeles Lakers shoveled the last dirt on the Mavs’ withered playoff hopes by winning in Portland late Wednesday night. But the Mavs have nobody but themselves to blame for being eliminated with a week remaining in the regular season.

Never mind for now what happened in the first 77 games of this frustrating season. Forget about the wouldas and couldas, such as owner Mark Cuban’s pregame suggestion that the Mavs might be a fifth or sixth seed if only Dirk Nowitzki didn’t miss a career-high 29 games this season.

The Mavs couldn’t beat the stinkin’ Suns!

Let that sink in for a moment. The Mavs let a terrible team that had lost 10 straight games, including one the previous night in Houston, punk them on their home court.

“There’s been a lot of terrible losses in our season,” Nowitzki said after the 102-91 spanking by the Suns. “This is one we had to have.”

This is one that appeared pretty much impossible for the Mavs not to win. After all, their foe was a fatigued team with the Western Conference’s worst record by far.

Nevertheless, coach Rick Carlisle declared Wednesday morning that anyone around these parts taking any games for granted is a “f------ idiot.”

So how the heck did the sorry Suns beat the Mavs by double digits?

“I guess we underestimated them and they came in here and got a win,” said Shawn Marion, who joins Nowitzki as the lone players left from the 2011 title team on the Mavs’ active roster.

Added Vince Carter: “I think we just took their record, their streak for granted, if you ask me. We just can’t do that.”

For more than a decade, Mavs fans could take a playoff berth for granted. They definitely can’t do that anymore, not as the front office prepares for another major offseason overhaul after the first full season of the Mark Cuban era that will end before the first round.

The Mavs knew it’d take a miracle to make the playoffs once they lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles last week. As Nowitzki said, it’s not like the Mavs’ hopes were crushed Wednesday night.

They were just humiliated in front of a home crowd announced as a sellout. (Hey, at least the sellout streak continues! It’s at 470 games and counting, the longest active sellout streak in pro sports after the Boston Red Sox didn’t fill Fenway Park on Wednesday for the first time since 2003.)

This was the third time over the last two weeks that the Mavs had a chance to finally reach .500. Call it the Curse of Omar the Barber if you want, but the Mavs have been blown out each time.

The Pacers won by 25, the Lakers by 20 and the Suns by 11. An eternal optimist might consider that progress, but it’s pretty pathetic.

“I view these one game at a time,” Carlisle said. “I’ve been around this too long and been humbled too many times to be looking ahead or be thinking in terms of the mountain of getting to .500. That’s not what anybody’s about around here.

“This was about winning one game and then getting ready for the next game. We had a disappointing night.”

It’s yet another disappointing night in a dreadful season by the standards of a franchise accustomed to 50-win campaigns.

“Had another great opportunity tonight to do something special,” said Mike James, the journeyman midseason addition who has been the Mavs’ starting point guard for the past month. “We’ve just got to fall off the horse, regroup and get back on it.”

If that horse is the Mavs’ season, its death certificate was signed late Wednesday night.

Of course, the Mavs might not even be able to beat a dead horse. Heck, they couldn’t even beat the sorry Suns, which is such a sad way to see a spectacular streak die.

DALLAS – For the first time in a dozen years, the Dallas Mavericks won’t participate in the playoffs.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks' 12-year playoff streak coming to an end. Listen

The Mavs’ 12-year streak was snapped Wednesday night when they were officially eliminated due to their home loss to the lowly Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers’ late road win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I mean, it didn’t look good for two or three weeks, so it’s not like I had unbelievably high hopes for it,” said Dirk Nowitzki, the lone player on the Mavs’ roster for the entire streak that featured two trips to the NBA Finals, including the 2010-11 championship season. “It’s not like my hopes were crushed tonight.”

The Mavs had not been officially eliminated yet when Nowitzki spoke to the media what he termed “just a terrible, terrible, disappointing loss,” which snapped the Suns’ 10-game losing streak. However, Nowitzki had come to terms with the inevitability of the Mavs being postseason spectators for the first time since 1999-2000, when Mark Cuban bought the team in the middle of the season.

It was the second longest active playoff streak in the NBA, trailing only the San Antonio Spurs, who have qualified for their 16th straight postseason trip.

“I’m not focused on that,” said Rick Carlisle, who is in his fifth season as Dallas’ head coach. “Really, in this job, in this business, you’ve got to focus on each hour of the day putting forth your best to try to help your team do their best. We all came up short tonight. I’m at the top of the list.”

The Mavs had their streak of 11 consecutive 50-win campaigns -- the third longest such run in NBA history -- snapped last season after Tyson Chandler and other key contributors to the franchise’s first title team left in free agency. At 38-40, the Mavs are in jeopardy of finishing under .500 for the first time since their previous non-playoff season.

“I’m not quitting on this team,” sixth man Vince Carter said. “I’m going to still approach it and play hard and fight hard and foul hard. Whatever you need me to do, I’m going to do it, just to continue the mentality here and just to let everybody know, we’ve been around -- a lot of these older guys have been around -- and there’s no quit in us.

“It’s unfortunate we are in this position, and it sucks, but I don’t want the quitting mentality to even be talked about around here at all.”

How it happened: The Mavericks have a new worst-loss-of-the-season front-runner.

The Phoenix Suns limped into the American Airlines Center with the West’s worst record and a 10-game losing streak. They left with a victory over a Dallas team whose fate seems to be to fail to reach .500 for the rest of the season.

The Suns had runs of 21-4, 16-3 and 12-0. The last of those runs came in response to the Mavs' storming out of halftime to erase a 10-point deficit.

Dallas, which got into the bonus with 8:29 remaining in the fourth quarter, managed to trim the deficit to four with a couple of minutes to play but never got any closer. Phoenix’s P.J. Tucker hit the dagger 3 from the corner with 1:01 remaining to push the Suns’ lead back to nine.

Tucker was one of six Suns to score in double figures. Point guard Goran Dragic led Phoenix with 21 points and 13 assists, slicing through the Dallas defense on pick-and-roll plays all night.

The Mavs had only three players score in double figures against one of the NBA’s softest defensive squads -- Shawn Marion (22), Dirk Nowitzki (21) and Vince Carter (18).

What it means: The Mavs’ .500 beards will keep on growing while Dallas’ playoff hopes hang by a thread that could be snipped if the Los Angeles Lakers win in Portland late Wednesday night. The Suns improved to 24-55.

Play of the game: Suns center Jermaine O’Neal hit a midrange jumper early in the fourth quarter to extend the Suns’ lead to 14. It was a pretty ordinary play, but O’Neal’s celebration while jogging down the floor was extraordinary. He smacked Rick Carlisle on the rear as he ran by. Carlisle, who coached O’Neal in Indiana, did not appear to be amused.

Stat of the night: The Suns snapped two 10-game losing streaks. They had lost their previous 10 games overall and their previous 10 games at the American Airlines Center. The latter streak dated to March 14, 2007.

DALLAS -- Elton Brand isn't quite ready to return.

Brand will miss his fourth consecutive game because of a sore right calf. The Mavs thought Brand might be available for tonight's game against the Suns, but the decision for him to sit out was made after his pregame meeting with the team's medical staff.

Brand's injury is part of the reason that Chris Kaman is getting his most minutes since January. Kaman responded by averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds on the Mavs' recent four-game trip, including a season-high 26 points and 11 rebounds in Sunday's win over Portland.

Dirk Nowitzki is expected to play Wednesday night against the Suns despite a left foot/ankle injury that sidelined him for the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win in Portland.

Coach Rick Carlisle told reporters that Nowitzki, who worked on the side during Tuesday’s practice, participated in the morning shootaround.

Elton Brand could also return against the Suns after missing the last three games due to a sore right calf.

“Elton’s doing better,” Carlisle said. “We’ll see how he’s doing tonight. He’ll talk to doc a little bit before the game. I think there’s a good chance he’ll suit up and be available, but I don’t know that for sure yet.”

Some Mavs numbers of note this week entering the final five games of the regular season:

12: If the Mavericks can’t buck the overwhelming odds against them to sneak into the playoffs and extend their run of 12 consecutive trips to the postseason, Denver will supplant Dallas as the No. 2 team on that list with a streak of 10 consecutive playoff seasons. The Nuggets, of course, visit American Airlines Center on Friday night. (Southwest Division champion San Antonio will make its 16th straight postseason appearance this spring.)

3: With his old friends from Phoenix in town, Shawn Marion will be trying Wednesday night to reach the 20-point plateau for the third consecutive game, something he hasn’t managed since February 2007. Marion has also posted two 25-and-10 games in his last 19 appearances for the Mavs, after the 34-year-old crafted just two such games in his first 260 regular-season games in Dallas.

0: One of the many areas that cost the Mavericks this season has been their total inability to beat elite teams on the road. They’re 0-12 this season in road games against teams with records of .600 or better.

6: Dirk Nowitzki's six single-digit scoring games in 2012-13 are his most in any one season, not counting his rookie season. Nowitzki has averaged just 11.5 points on 40.9-percent shooting in Dallas’ past four games.

10: The Mavericks’ highest position in ESPN.com’s weekly NBA Power Rankings was No. 10 … but that was way back in the preseason edition of the rankings on Sept. 28. They haven’t been higher than No. 15 since Week 3 of the regular season began Nov. 19.

Brandan Wright has proven to be a winning piece for the Mavericks this season.

The proof: The Mavs are 18-10 when Wright plays at least 20 minutes. That includes a 7-4 record in games that Dirk Nowitzki missed.

Wright, who was a fringe rotation player for much of the season because of Rick Carlisle’s concerns about his rebounding, averaged 11.8 points on 61.4 percent shooting, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 25 minutes during those 28 games.

Wright’s production and the Mavs’ success with him playing significant minutes raise two questions: 1) Should Carlisle have given him consistent minutes all season? 2) What kind of offer should the Mavs make him as a free agent this summer?

“To me, this is not a time to be analyzing the entire year or the future,” Carlisle told reporters Tuesday. “We need to stay in the now. We need Brandan to do what he does, which is give us activity, give us a slippery body, play above the rim, give us some length defensively with shot blocking and position defense. He’s one important puzzle piece to our collective group.”

We should note our hesitance to criticize Carlisle’s rotation decisions. Call it the Roddy B. effect. Remember when Carlisle was ripped for not playing rookie sensation Rodrigue Beaubois enough? We discovered later that a big part of the reason Beaubois was so successful in a limited role was because Carlisle did a masterful job of picking and choosing the best matchups for him to play.

That very well could be the case as well with the slender Wright, who has struggled recently against the big front lines of the Pacers, Lakers and Jazz. However, there are also examples of Wright playing well against big centers, such as the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, the Rockets’ Omer Asik and Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins.

Carlisle has at least reached the point of playing Wright every night and determining his minutes based on his performance. That’s a significant step for a player who routinely was a DNP-CD or garbage-time guy during the middle of the season. And it's been a major benefit to the Mavs, who are 12-6 since Wright rejoined the rotation on a permanent basis, with him averaging 12.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 24.3 minutes per game in that span.

Regarding Wright’s worth in free agency, he’s certainly made himself some money in the last month, seizing the opportunity of getting regular minutes again. He’s displayed the athleticism and touch around the basket that made him the eighth overall pick of the 2007 draft. Teams will be concerned about the durability of Wright, whose 59 games played this season are by far a game high, but there tends to be a market for athletic frontcourt players.

Case in point: Ex-Mavs backup center Ian Mahinmi, who signed a four-year, $16 million deal with the Pacers last summer. Considering that Wright is a much better scorer and shot blocker and a comparable rebounder, it’s not too difficult to envision him getting that kind of deal.

Would it be worth it to the Mavs to pay Wright that kind of money? It’s not too steep of a price to pay for a winning piece.

Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki did not practice Tuesday due to the foot/ankle injury he suffered in Sunday’s win over Portland.

Nowitzki suffered the injury during the second quarter Sunday and sat out the entire fourth quarter after feeling pain and stiffness.

“He did a little bit of stuff on the side today,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “He’s doing better. We don’t consider this a serious thing. We’re hopeful that he’s going to play tomorrow.”

Nowitzki said Sunday that he will “definitely” play Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns, when the Mavs have a chance to reach .500 for the first time since Dec. 14.

Elton Brand, who missed the last three games due to a sore right calf, practiced Tuesday and could play against the Suns.

Omar, get your clippers ready. You ought to be busy Wednesday night.

The third time better be the charm for the Mavericks’ bearded bunch earning the right to shave by getting back to .500. After all, all the Mavs need to do is win at home against the West’s worst team.

Dallas has had tough draws the previous two times over the past couple of weeks that it has had a chance to get its record to the break-even point again and reach for the razors. The Mavs got blown out on both occasions.

The Indiana Pacers barked a bunch about all the talk about beards and the barber providing them bulletin-board material for their 25-point rout March 28 at the American Airlines Center. However, as Dirk Nowitzki noted, the Pacers won convincingly because they’re much better than the Mavs, not due to a healthy dose of motivational fodder. There’s a reason the Pacers are the East’s third seed.

The Los Angeles Lakers have more talent than the Mavs, but there’s no doubt Dallas laid an egg last week when it had a chance to reach .500 and really make the fight for the West’s final playoff seed interesting. That 20-point loss left the Mavs clinging to mathematical playoff hope, but really playing for pride.

They’ve played with enough pride to put themselves in position to hit .500 in the 78th game of the season.

And here come the Phoenix Suns.

On the butt end of a back-to-back.

After the Mavs will have had two days off.

NBA wins don’t come much easier than this. Call that disrespectful if you want, but the Suns have lost nine in a row and 13 of 14 entering their Tuesday night game in Houston. They have the West’s worst record by four full games.

Realistically, all that stands between the Mavs and shaving is showing up Wednesday night wanting to win.

That might have been a money game for Chris Kaman.

Kaman opted to sign a one-year, $8 million deal with the Mavericks last summer instead of taking a similar offer from the Trail Blazers. Considering how he’s bounced between the starting lineup and the end of the bench, it’s hard to believe that Kaman will return to Dallas next season. Portland could be interested again in signing him, however.

Kaman certainly made a strong case Sunday night that he can help the Blazers, who will again have a hole to fill at center with J.J. Hickson entering free agency.

Not to damn his 26-point, 11-rebound, two-block outing with faint praise, but this was arguably the best performance by Kaman during this frustrating season.

Kaman’s season-high point total matching the highest scoring game by a Mavs center during the Dirk Nowitzki era. He also recorded his third double-double of the season – and first since Jan. 2 – despite playing only 25 minutes.

“Kaman was great from the beginning of the game,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “He hit his first shot, was really active on defense, rebounded like crazy and just gave us a terrific all-around game.”

This season, however, has been far from great for the 10-year veteran 7-footer. Billed as the best offensive big man the Mavs have had to pair with Nowitzki, his former teammate on the German Olympic team, Kaman expected to be the full-time starter when he decided to come to Dallas. However, in large part due to his defensive struggles, Kaman has been demoted to part of a starting center committee, playing less than 10 minutes in eight games last month.

Carlisle went back to Kaman as the starter for this road trip, and the former All-Star responded by averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds while shooting 57.1 percent from the floor in 22.8 minutes per game.

Kaman has been honest about his frustrations, mentioning several times that he feels pressure as he prepares to be a free agent again. But he’s remained professional about his situation and proved during this trip that he stayed ready to play even while riding the pine.

“They’re paying me money to play basketball,” Kaman said on the Mavs’ television broadcast. “That’s my job. … I’m here to do a job and be a professional, and that’s what I try to do.”

Kaman might be on Portland’s payroll next season. His performance Sunday night at the Rose Garden probably reminded the Blazers’ brass why they were interested in the big man last summer.

A few more notes from the Mavs’ win that salvaged a split on the road trip:

1. Trix’s trip: Shawn Marion accomplished something on this trip he hadn’t done since March 2011: He scored 20-plus points in two straight games.

Marion starred in the Mavs’ two wins to end the trip. He lit up the Kings for 25 points and 12 rebounds and followed that with a 20-point, seven-rebound performance in Portland. Marion was 20-of-31 from the floor in those two games.

“Marion’s on a roll here,” Carlisle said. “He’s scoring, rebounding and making plays. He did a terrific job again tonight.”

2. Dirk’s difficulties: This was a tough trip for Dirk Nowitzki, who was as hot as he’d been all season when the Mavs left for their week away, having just torched the Bulls for a season-high 35 points on 14-of-17 shooting to carry the Mavs to a miraculous comeback win.

Nowitzki averaged only 11.5 points on 40.9 percent shooting on the four-game trip. His production in the fourth quarters on this trip was particularly terrible: a total of one point, coming on a free throw well after the Mavs’ fate had been decided in their blowout loss to the Lakers.

Nowitzki didn’t play in the fourth quarter Sunday due to a foot/ankle injury, which he suffered earlier in the game and the Mavs consider minor.

3. Within a whisker of .500: For the third time in the last two weeks, the Mavs will have a chance to get back to .500 and earn the right to finally shave.

But Vince Carter, one of the originators of the .500 beard pact, isn’t in any mood to discuss facial hair before the Mavs face the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.

“Just win the next game,” Carter said. “That’s all I care about. If it entails having an even record, fine. I’m not going to talk about it. Just win the next game.”

Dirk Nowitzki did not play in the fourth quarter of the Mavericks’ win over Portland due to a foot injury.

“At this point, it’s not considered serious,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “But you don’t mess around with something like that.”

Nowitzki scored only six points – his fewest since his third game of the season – on 2-of-7 shooting in 24 minutes. He suffered the injury during the second quarter but played in the third quarter before the decision was made to sit him for the remainder of the game.

Carlisle, who did not know specifics about the injury, said the Mavs hoped that Nowitzki would be able to play Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns.

"I'll be fine," Nowitzki told reporters. "I'll definitely play Wednesday."

Nowitzki has missed 29 games due to injury this season, by far the most of his 15-year career. He sat out the first 27 games after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in his right knee and missed two games in January due to a strained adductor muscle suffered in the Mavs' previous trip to Portland.

The Dallas Mavericks built a massive lead after pouncing on Portland and survived a late run by the Trail Blazers.

Dallas scored the first nine points of the game and led by 26 at one point -- 20 in the fourth quarter. But the Blazers, fueled by a 17-2 run, managed to give themselves a chance to send the game into overtime on their final possession.

Portland point guard Damian Lillard instead missed a driving layup, and Shawn Marion sealed the win and capped a 20-point performance with a fast-break layup on the other end as time expired.

Mavs center Chris Kaman had his best performance of a frustrating season, recording his third double-double in a Dallas uniform with a season-high 26 points and 11 rebounds. Kaman was singlehandedly outscoring the Blazers, 14-11, when he checked out of the game with 3:29 remaining in the first quarter.

The Mavs’ offense turned into a mess in the fourth quarter, scoring only 15 points while Dirk Nowitzki (six points, 2-7 FG) watched from the bench, apparently due to an injury suffered earlier in the game.

Blazers rookie guard Will Barton, whose role increased due to starter Wesley Matthews leaving the game with an ankle injury in the second quarter, keyed the comeback by catching fire. Barton scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.

But this wasn’t a repeat of the Mavs’ Game 4 meltdown in the Rose Garden during the 2011 first round. Or, for that matter, the 21-point blown lead in a loss the last time the Mavs played in Portland. Dallas escaped with the win this time, extending the Blazers’ losing streak to eight games.

What it means: Those .500 beards are in jeopardy again. The Mavs (38-39) pulled back to within one game of the break-even point, finishing the four-game road trip with a 2-2 split despite dropping the first two games. The Mavs remain mathematically alive in the race for the West’s eighth seed, although the Utah Jazz’s road win Sunday over the Golden State Warriors stung. Dallas is 2½ games behind the Jazz and two games behind the Los Angeles Lakers, but both of those teams own tie-breakers over the Mavs. The Mavs’ tragic numbers (combined losses and Lakers/Jazz wins) are two with the Jazz and three with the Lakers.

Play of the game: O.J. Mayo saved the ball from under the Blazers’ basket by firing a full-court pass to Darren Collison, who made a leaping catch and turned in midair to feed Shawn Marion for a layup. That bucket stretched the Mavs’ lead to 22 midway through the second quarter.

Stat of the night: Kaman’s 26 points were the most by a Mavs center since March 9, 2000. Shawn Bradley had 26 points in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves that night.