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DALLAS – There’s no denying the fact that the Mavericks came up with a terribly timed dud, getting blown out by the Indiana Pacers on a night that they could have made up a game on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Elton Brand called it “disheartening.” Dirk Nowitzki used a more simple term: “It sucks.”

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Rick Carlisle joins Galloway & Company to discuss getting Dirk Nowitzki more involved in the Mavericks' game plan and much more. Listen

It’s the kind of loss that could linger with a mentally weak team.

The Mavs have many flaws, but mental weakness isn’t among them. For better or worse, they’ve proven that they can get past an awful loss.

“I think we have plenty and plenty of tough losses this year,” Nowitzki said. “We should know how to recover from it and flush it and maybe watch some of this stuff [Friday]. … It’s the same way we flushed all the other 40 losses and come back ready to play Saturday.”

Just look at how the 35-37 Mavs responded to their last blowout loss, when they were humiliated in Houston on March 3. They beat the Rockets in a rematch a few days later, starting a four-game winning streak and a stretch of nine wins in 12 games.

In this case, the Mavs must bounce back against a different set of East bullies before heading on a road trip that begins with a potentially pivotal game against the Lakers.

For now, the Mavs’ focus is firmly on the Bulls, who they face at 1 p.m. Saturday. They’re well aware that Chicago is just as capable of kicking their butts on the boards as the Pacers were.

Indiana, the league’s top rebounding differential team, had a 55-34 edge on the glass Thursday night. The Mavs rank 28th in rebounding differential.

“It was a wipeout inside as far as the rebounding,” Carlisle said. “That’s been a challenge for us and we’ve got to get ready for it again on Saturday, because Chicago’s got the same kind of team.”

That requires a quick flushing and refreshed energy for a Mavs team fighting for a chance to sneak into the playoffs.

DALLAS – Remember how high folks around these parts were about Rodrigue Beaubois’ potential back in the summer of 2010?

That was right after his rookie season, when Rick Carlisle was heavily criticized for not giving the kid more minutes, especially after Beaubois went on a scoring flurry to give the Mavs a chance to steal Game 6 during the only significant playing time he received in Dallas’ one-and-done playoff run.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the historical perspective of Miami's 27-game win streak, the Mavericks' playoff push, the job Rick Carlisle has done this season and if it's a good idea for the Mavs to shave their .500 beards. Listen

The Mavs’ front office had plenty of company in terms of being tantalized by Beaubois’ talent. Despite Mark Cuban’s declaration that Beaubois was essentially “untouchable,” Donnie Nelson’s cell phone rang often with offers for him.

One such offer occurred on draft night, as Nelson revealed after Cuban paid $3 million for the rights to select Dominique Jones with the 25th overall pick. A team dangled a lottery pick, Nelson said with a smile, but the Mavs weren’t interested due to their major plans for Beaubois.

Why is that relevant right now?

That team was the Indiana Pacers. They settled for selecting Paul George with the 10th overall pick.

Beaubois watched from the bench with his surgically repaired left hand in a cast while George dominated the Mavs on Thursday night. George lit up the Mavs for 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead the Pacers to a lopsided win that bumped the Mavs to two games under .500.

“He’s right now approaching being a top-12 or -15 player in this league, which means he’s a top-12 or -15 player in the world,” Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s that good.”

The oft-injured Beaubois, on the other hand, is approaching an uncertain future as a free agent this summer. He certainly never sniffed the star status envisioned for him after his flashes-of-brilliance rookie season, ending up as a fringe rotation player.

The 22-year-old George is one of the league’s most versatile wings. He’s a phenomenally athletic 6-foot-8, 210-pounder who does a little bit of everything, averaging 17.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals this season, earning his first All-Star bid.

In other words, George is exactly the type of young talent the Mavs would love to pair with Dirk Nowitzki. Of course, that’s what they thought Beaubois would be back during his untouchable days.

Having said that, Cuban claims he has no regrets whatsoever about not selling high on Beaubois.

“That’s like saying, why didn’t I sell this stock or that stock in 2006?” Cuban said recently. “Why didn’t I short all the mortgages and banks in 2007? I might be rich. No, I don’t look back on things like that. Ever.”

It was hard not to while watching George go off Thursday night.

A few more notes from the blowout that will keep the Mavs’ beards growing:

1. Lost opportunity: This loss stung even a little more when the Mavs learned that the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks

Had the Mavs won, they would have been even with the ninth-place Utah Jazz and only a half game behind the Lakers in the fight for the West’s final playoff seed. But the Mavs got blown out instead.

“Terrible time to have a dud,” Elton Brand said. “It’s disheartening. So many ups and downs in the season. It’s one of those games that [if] we win, you see the Lakers lose and feel great about yourselves. To have a dud on your home floor is definitely disheartening.”

Added Nowitzki: “Knowing the Lakers lost now, we had an opportunity to cut into their lead. And it sucks. It sucks.”

2. Off game for James: Mike James, the 37-year-old journeyman guard, has been an unlikely catalyst for the Mavs’ recent success. They were 9-3 with James in the starting lineup entering Thursday night.

Make that 9-4 after James’ worst performance as the Mavs’ starting point guard.

James was scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting and had as many fouls (four) as assists. The Mavs were outscored by 22 points in his 21 minutes, giving him the worst plus-minus of the night.

“Whatever happens, there’s no excuses,” James said. “I’m not going to make no excuses about my play. I didn’t play a good game tonight. I know my team needs my energy, so I’ll get myself ready tomorrow to play on Saturday.”

3. Playing in pain: O.J. Mayo shrugged off a question about his sore left shoulder Thursday morning, saying it was “just a little swollen” and would be OK.

It’s clearly somewhat of a concern, considering that he wore a harness to protect the shoulder against the Pacers. He injured it when he crashed into the courtside seats while chasing a loose ball late in Tuesday’s win over the Clippers.

“He’s wearing that thing, so it’s bothering him some,” Carlisle said. “He hasn’t missed a practice or a game all season, so he’s going to keep battling.”

DALLAS – The Indiana Pacers heard all the buzz about .500 beards and Omar the barber.

They made sure Omar’s clippers didn’t do any buzzing in the Dallas Mavericks’ locker room Thursday night.

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Galloway & Company to discuss getting Dirk Nowitzki more involved in the Mavericks' game plan and much more. Listen

“We wanted to shut that s--- down,” big man Roy Hibbert said after the Pacers’ 103-78 blowout win, which guaranteed that the bearded Mavs won’t be shaving on this homestand.

During the Pacers’ morning meeting, coach Frank Vogel made a point to mention that the Mavs planned to have a barber at the American Airlines Center in preparation for a potential postgame shave for the six players who made a pact a couple of months ago to let their beards grow until Dallas’ record reached the break-even point.

That little tidbit was leaked to the media by shooting guard O.J. Mayo upon playful questioning following Tuesday night’s thrilling overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers. He meant no harm, but it was convenient fodder for an opponent looking for a little extra juice on the second night of a back-to-back.

“I don’t think anything was meant by it as far as disrespect to how good the Pacers are,” Mavs center Elton Brand said. “We knew that wouldn’t be a cakewalk by any means. We knew that.”

Just in case there was any doubt, coach Rick Carlisle gave the Mavs a stern reminder after the morning shootaround. His message: You better be ready after all this talk about razors and barbers.

The Mavs hung in for a half, and then it got uglier than Dirk Nowitzki's neck hair. The Pacers outscored the Mavs by a 34-17 margin in the third quarter, when All-Star wing Paul George scored 13 of his game-high 24 points, and the Pacers rolled to the rout.

As Nowitzki so eloquently put it, the Pacers kicked the Mavs’ butts in every facet of the game.

Some facets were worse than others –- the 55-34 rebounding differential definitely stands out –- but this is as thorough a beating as the Mavs have taken in a while.

To be precise, they hadn’t lost by 25-plus points since March 3 in Houston. The Mavs had won nine of 12 games since that humiliation, putting them a win away from shaving before being pounded by the Pacers, who moved up to second place in the Eastern Conference with the win.

“I think a team like that blatantly brings out our weaknesses and shows our weaknesses,” said Nowitzki, whose 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting was one of the only things that went well for the Mavs. “That’s why they won. I don’t care if they didn’t want us to shave or not, but they’re a better team.”

That left the Mavs with a 35-37 record about two months after they started growing those beards, which they’re frankly tired of talking about now.

Carlisle started a personal ban on beard questions after addressing the issue with his team Thursday morning.

Mayo didn’t have much to say on the subject after the morning shootaround, either, and he didn’t address the media after his seven-point, 3-of-10 shooting outing in the loss.

Sixth man Vince Carter believes all the beard talk has grown out of control.

“The whole motivation of it was to really get everyone on board, and it’s been wonderful,” Carter said. “It’s kind of a little too magnified. They’re making a big deal about it now, as far as everything that’s been magnified the last couple of days.

“I’m glad everybody is on board. More than anything, the idea and concept was just to keep us all together. It’s done wonders. The longer the hair on the faces has grown, I think the more together we’ve been. After that was done, we’re here. It’s not about that anymore.”

It’s about fighting for a playoff berth, and the Mavs missed out on an opportunity to make up ground on the eighth-place Los Angeles Lakers, who are still a game and a half ahead of Dallas despite losing in Milwaukee.

The earliest the beards can get buzzed now is Tuesday night. If that happens, the Mavs will be in decent shape heading down the stretch.

It would require the Mavs to wrap up this six-game homestand with a win Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls, another bunch of East bullies, and then beat L.A. at the Staples Center.

“Hopefully they can get going and get rid of it,” Pacers power forward David West said, smiling. “None of them look good.”

The Mavs hadn’t looked this bad in a long time. And that had nothing to do with those beards.

How it happened: By the end of the third quarter, the Dallas Mavericks had long faces. It was apparent by then that their long beards weren’t getting whacked Thursday night.

The Mavs’ defensive deficiencies, which had been masked recently by Dallas’ remarkable efficiency on the other end, got exposed in the third quarter, when the Pacers turned a halftime tie into a lopsided lead by lighting it up for 34 points in that frame. Indiana shot 70 percent in the quarter, hitting 14 of 20 shots from the floor.

PODCAST
Galloway & Company discuss the latest with the Mavericks, including them closing in on .500 and getting to shave their beards. Listen

The Mavs, meanwhile, shot 30 percent (6-of-20) and barely managed to outscore Indiana’s Paul George in the third. The Mavs had 17 points in the quarter; the Pacers’ young All-Star wing had 13 of his game-high 24 points.

The Mavs trimmed the lead to 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but they never made a serious run.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting, but this was otherwise a dreadful offensive night for Dallas against the NBA’s stingiest scoring defense. It was the first time the Mavs failed to score at least 80 points since a Dec. 14 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

The Mavs were physically overmatched against the bigger, stronger Pacers all night. Indiana had a 55-34 rebounding advantage and a 50-34 edge in points in the paint.

What it means: The Mavs aren’t shaving on this homestand. More importantly, they didn’t make up any ground on the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost in Milwaukee. Dallas (35-37) is a game and a half behind the eighth-place Lakers and a game behind the Utah Jazz, who were idle Thursday.

Play of the game: A miserable third quarter for the Mavs ended with ex-Dallas big man Ian Mahinmi throwing down a two-hand dunk. Pacers backup guard Orlando Johnson found a cutting Mahinmi wide open in the paint for the way-too-easy bucket.

Stat of the night: The Pacers are an NBA-best 14-7 on the second night of back-to-backs. The Mavs fell to 12-3 at home against teams that played the previous night.

DALLAS – Mark Cuban was a rowdy, loud and proud man Tuesday night, when he watched the Mavs’ OT thriller on television in the Cayman Islands, his family’s annual spring break getaway destination.

The fact that the Mavs managed to pull out the 109-102 win over the Clippers obviously pleased Cuban.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the historical perspective of Miami's 27-game win streak, the Mavericks' playoff push, the job Rick Carlisle has done this season and if it's a good idea for the Mavs to shave their .500 beards. Listen

He was also content with the sellout crowd’s rough treatment of Lamar Odom, who was booed relentlessly the second he started to take off his warm-ups, and every time he touched the ball.

“Absolutely,” Cuban said before Thursday’s game against the Pacers, which he’ll watch before flying out in the morning to rejoin his wife and kids. “I was proud of the way everybody received Jet. Proud of the energy the crowd had [Tuesday night]. You could feel it through the TV. We felt it in the Caymans.”

Jason Terry, aka Jet, received the appropriate standing ovation when the Mavs legend recently returned to the American Airlines Center for his first appearance here as a member of the Boston Celtics.

Odom, of course, received the polar opposite sort of welcome, which was appropriate given his disgraceful partial season in Dallas that ended prematurely after Cuban basically kicked him off the team.

Odom told ESPNDallas.com before Tuesday’s game that he felt no guilt about what happened during his tenure with the Mavs, but would apologize if he ever had a conversation with Cuban.

Confused? Well, Odom’s pseudo-intellectual comments didn’t exactly clarify his stance, but they did give Cuban some comedic fodder.

“You might be married to somebody for 40 years and then go to the Caymans,” Cuban said, mocking Odom’s bizarre explanation of why he felt no guilt about his failed Dallas stint. “You might just go the Caymans one time and just move there and live there for 100 years. That’s just a thing a man has to figure out.”

Odom indicated that he felt that Cuban didn’t really have any harsh feelings for him, saying, “I can say, 'F--- that garbage can,' but I love it. And you wouldn't ever know, because every time I come up to you I say, 'F--- that garbage can,' you know what I'm saying?”

Cuban’s laughing response to the garbage can metaphor: “Why do you think they line it with plastic?”

However, Cuban did indicate that he’d be willing to have a conversation with Odom at some point.

“Look, there’s only one person, two maybe that I still hold grudges against and neither are basketball related,” Cuban said. “You guys thought the same thing about [Don Nelson]. Nellie and I get along great. So …”

DALLAS – Mike James has every reason to believe that the Dallas Mavericks are a playoff-caliber team.

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Galloway & Company discuss the latest with the Mavericks, including them closing in on .500 and getting to shave their beards. Listen

After all, they are 22-14 since the 37-year-old journeyman guard joined the Mavs on a 10-day deal in January. They are 9-3 in games that James has started.

“Maybe I’m the rabbit’s foot,” James joked after Thursday’s shootaround.

James is completely serious when he discusses Dallas’ opportunity to earn the right to play in the postseason and the potential to do some damage if they get there.

“We know we’re a playoff team,” James said. “But because of our record and how slow we started, especially before I got here, we’ve had to dig ourselves out of a hole. Let’s just say if the season started in January and you take away the first half of the season and just talk about what we’ve done from January to now, we’re one of the better teams in the NBA.”

That’s not an exaggeration.

James’ first game with the Mavs was Jan. 9, when he played five seconds in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers that dropped the Mavs to 10 games under .500 for the first time in a dozen years. The Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana Pacers are the only teams that have a better record since then.

“Were we a playoff team early? No,” James said. “But are we a team that could really make a lot of noise in the playoffs? Yes. I believe that if we get in, we’re going to be dangerous for any team to play against because we’re going to be playing our best basketball.”

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the historical perspective of Miami's 27-game win streak, the Mavericks' playoff push, the job Rick Carlisle has done this season and if it's a good idea for the Mavs to shave their .500 beards. Listen

Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks have battled back into the playoff picture in the Western Conference, and those outside of the Metroplex have started to take notice.

Grantland.com writer Zach Lowe has chronicled the team's resurgence. Here's a snippet:

It has been a trying year, but the Mavs are somehow in the thick of it. "It has been very, very challenging," Carlisle says.

The basic big-picture explanation for the Mavs' resurgence is pretty simple, and the simplicity is discouraging in a way: They are scoring like gangbusters again, mostly by taking better jump shots — and more jumpers in general — and hitting a frighteningly high percentage of them. The discouraging part comes when you start thinking about the sustainability of a 45.9 percent mark on corner 3s, and about how the Mavs, even during this uptick in play, haven't figured out things on the other side of the ball.

To see the whole column, which is a very good read, click here.

Can the Mavs' approach take them to the postseason? And will it work against the West's top seeds if they get there?

A fistful of statistical nuggets before the Mavericks play host to Indiana on Thursday night:

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the historical perspective of Miami's 27-game win streak, the Mavericks' playoff push, the job Rick Carlisle has done this season and if it's a good idea for the Mavs to shave their .500 beards. Listen

The Pacers have held 20 of their past 21 opponents under 100 points, including nine straight.

The Mavs’ 37-percent shoting from the floor in a 103-83 loss at Indiana on Nov. 16 is tied for Dallas’ third-worst shooting effort all season.

Dirk Nowitzki is shooting 53.8 percent from the floor during the Mavs’ 9-3 surge. Nowitzki shot 43.7 percent from the field in his first 30 games this season after knee surgery.

The Mavs, according to the excellent @mavstats Twitter feed, are trying to become just the third team since 1989 to make the playoffs after falling 10 games below .500 at 13-23. The Suns and Clippers both did in the 1996-97 season.

One leftover from Tuesday night’s win over the Clippers: Chris Paul was hounded into seven turnovers for the second time in a span of nine days by the Mavericks. Paul endured only five games with seven or more turnovers in his eight-season career to that point ... and none since February 2011.

DALLAS – As far as off nights go, it wasn’t a good one for the Dallas Mavericks.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the historical perspective of Miami's 27-game win streak, the Mavericks' playoff push, the job Rick Carlisle has done this season and if it's a good idea for the Mavs to shave their .500 beards. Listen

The Mavs’ two prime competitors for the West’s last playoff seed both won. The Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 120-117 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Utah Jazz cruised to a 103-88 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

The Mavs woke up 1.5 games behind the eighth-seeded Lakers and a half-game behind the Jazz. Good thing scoreboard watching and standings studying aren’t pursuits that the Mavs consider worthy of their time and mental energy.

“We’ve all got to focus on what’s here in front of our nose and not look out into the wild blue yonder,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “If we do that, we’ll win our share. And if we’re supposed to get in, we’ll get in.”

The Mavs have plenty on their plate today anyway with the 45-27 Indiana Pacers in town.

The good news: Indiana is on the second half of a back-to-back, having won in Houston on Wednesday night. The Mavs have excelled at taking advantage of tired teams, going 12-2 at home against teams playing for the second consecutive night. However, the Pacers are pretty tough with no rest, as evidenced by their 13-7 record on the back end of back-to-backs.

All of the Pacers’ starters played at least 32 minutes last night, but reinforcements are reportedly on the way. According to the Indianapolis Star, Danny Granger and David West are expected to return from extended absences to face the Mavs.

Granger, who had emerged as the Pacers’ franchise player in recent years, has been out since March 6 due to soreness in his left knee and has missed all but five games this season. West, the former All-Star power forward, has missed the past six games with a lower back sprain.

UPDATE: The Pacers announced this afternoon that Granger will undergo season-ending knee surgery.

After the Dallas Mavericks' win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 6, several players agreed to forgo shaving and grow beards until they reached the .500 mark.

The Mavs were 21-28 at the time but now are just one game (35-36) from putting their razors to use.

Dallas hosts the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night, and O.J. Mayo's barber will be at the game ready to shave away those beards if the Mavs can walk away with a win.

The Mavs are coming off an overtime victory over the Clippers and have the seventh-highest winning percentage in the NBA since Feb. 6, better than 10 current playoff teams. Only the Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder and Clippers have fared better over that span.

What do you think? Will the Mavs get to shave after the Pacers game?

The Mavericks, Lakers and Jazz each have 11 games left on their 82-game schedules.

With an assist from Gregory Found from ESPN Stats & Information, here's how the race for No. 8 in the West breaks down among the three teams in four key categories:

PODCAST
Tim MacMahon joins Fitzsimmons and Durrett to discuss his recent conversation with Dez Bryant, the Cowboys' attempt at landing free agents without money and the Mavs' playoff push. Listen

Schedules

* The Mavs play six of their final 11 games at home.

* The Lakers also play six of their final 11 games at home.

* The Jazz, who have the worst road record (10-27) of any team still in playoff contention, play seven of their final 11 games at home.

Strength of schedule

* The Mavs play the 16th-toughest remaining schedule in terms of opponent winning percentage: .506.

* The Lakers play the seventh-toughest: .523.

* The Jazz play the 13th-toughest: .508.

Back-to-backs

* The Mavs have two back-to-backs left: 1. Denver (A)/Sacramento (A); 2. New Orleans (A)/Memphis (H).

* The Lakers also have two left: 1. Minnesota (A)/Milwaukee (A); 2. New Orleans (H)/Portland (A).

* The Jazz have one left: Portland (A)/Brooklyn (H).

Tiebreakers

* The Mavericks have already lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with Utah by losing the season series (2-1) with no games left between them.

* The Lakers have also lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Jazz by losing the season series (2-1) with no games left between them.

* The Lakers currently own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Dallas, but that could change April 2 when the Mavs go to Staples Center to try to even the season series at 2-2.

* If the Mavericks and Lakers wind up splitting their season series and need to break a tie between the teams for that last playoff spot, conference record will be the determining factor because the teams are in different divisions. The Lakers (19-23) currently have a slight edge on Dallas (19-24), but those records obviously can change a lot between now and the end of the regular season.

* The Jazz have likewise already clinched the three-way tiebreaker if the teams all end up deadlocked for the No. 8 seed at season's end because they sport the best record in games among the three teams at 4-2 with no games left. The Lakers are 3-3 against the other two teams with the April 2 game against the Mavs remaining; Dallas is 2-4 against the other two with one game left.

The Dallas Mavericks' 109-102 overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night pulled them within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers for the Western Conference's last playoff spot with 11 games to play. Coach Rick Carlisle deserves his share of credit for the Mavs' turnaround. But how much?

Jean-Jacques Taylor says this has been Carlisle's best coaching job -- even better than when he guided the Mavs to an NBA title in 2011. Part of what he had to say:

Has this been Rick Carlisle's best coaching job with the Mavericks?

•  
  66%
  Yes
•  
  34%
  No

(Total votes: 8,730)

The Mavs won a championship because Dirk Nowitzki proved he was one of the NBA's best closers, Shawn Marion played great defense, Jason Terry hit a bevy of clutch buckets and Jason Kidd provided leadership.

They were the ultimate team -- a group of guys who played beautiful basketball -- and every move Carlisle made seemingly worked.

Those Mavs would blow out these Mavs.

Look at the collection of players on this team -- an aging Dirk, who scored a season-high 33 points against the Los Angeles Clippers Tuesday night -- is the only player resembling a star.

You can read the rest of Taylor's take on Carlisle here.

What do you think? Has this been Carlisle's best coaching job?

DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki’s overtime dominance doesn’t happen unless the Mavericks’ most maligned clutch player came through with the game on the line.

PODCAST
Tim MacMahon joins Fitzsimmons and Durrett to discuss his recent conversation with Dez Bryant, the Cowboys' attempt at landing free agents without money and the Mavs' playoff push. Listen

O.J. Mayo had two huge buckets in the final 82 seconds of regulation to give the Mavs a chance to pull off Tuesday night’s thrilling upset over the Clippers.

Yes, the same Mayo whose clutch turnovers have caused Mavs fans to scream countless cusswords over the course of an often frustrating season.

Yes, the same Mayo whose production has plummeted all season long against the West’s best teams.

None of that mattered once Mayo got matched up against the smaller Chris Paul in crunch time. Nor did the fact that Mayo made only three of his first nine shots from the floor.

Mayo’s first big bucket was an and-1 turnaround off a post-up that tied the score with 1:22 remaining. The second was one of the most memorable plays of the Mavs season, with Mayo spinning away from the help defense to beat Paul on the baseline before flipping in a pretty lefty layup to tie it up again with less than a second remaining.

“Guys that are 'players' – and I put players in quotes – they don’t worry about their shooting percentage,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “You’ve got to stay in the now and you’ve got to trust all the years that you’ve practiced and trained. In those situations, O.J. is one of those guys that all he’s thinking about is how to get the ball in the basket. He looks at it as an opportunity.

“Guys that are wired that way, whenever you can get ‘em, you want to get ‘em.”

This isn’t out of character for Mayo. He’s been a prolific clutch scorer all season. According to NBA.com’s advanced stats, Mayo ranks eighth in the league with 109 clutch points (scored in last five minutes with the score within five points). Yet his most memorable crunch-time plays have been turnovers, a league-high three of which came in the final 10 seconds of losses, and missed free throws.

Those failures didn’t instill any fear in Mayo.

“He wants to win and he’s not scared of the moment,” Elton Brand said. “He’s putting himself in situations to tie the game. Some guys shy away from it. He’s put himself in situations all year. Sometimes he succeeded; sometimes he didn’t. That’s the mentality he has to have.”

Mayo’s description of his crunch-time mindset: “Keep being aggressive. Obviously, you’re not going to make every shot. I want to. … Just keep being in that attack mentality and try to win ballgames.”

Mayo played a major role in winning this one.

A few more notes from the Mavs’ most impressive win of the season:

1. BOOOOOO!!!!: Mavs fans made their feelings for Lamar Odom loud and clear, booing as soon as he took off his warmups to check into the game and again every single time he touched the ball.

Odom earned that wrath with his inexcusable lack of effort during his 50-game stint with the Mavs last season, which ended after Mark Cuban finally got sick of it and essentially kicked him off the team, albeit with pay.

Of course, Odom shrugged it off after his six-point, six-rebound, 19-minute outing in the Clippers’ loss.

“I’ve played in really hostile environments all my life,” Odom said. “It’s sports. You got to expect that. That’s what we love about sports.

“I’ve played in the championship round before, you know what I’m saying? In Boston. That’s what happens. That’s what we really love in the game. That’s the way it’s going to be in the playoffs for everybody.”

2. Big D in Dirk: It’s natural to focus on the fact that Nowitzki scored a season high 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting. Especially since he shouldered the offensive load in overtime, singlehandedly outscoring the Clippers while accounting for the Mavs’ first eight points of the extra period.

Just don’t overlook Dirk’s contribution on defense.

“If you remember, he was the one out there trapping Chris Paul to get it out of his hands,” Brand said. “He’s out there running, trapping, rotating and then coming down and scoring. It was great, great leadership by Dirk.”

3. Brand banging: Elton Brand joked that he feels like a leper because the Mavs coaching staff is so fixated on making sure he gets rest. They won’t even let him do much during shootarounds.

Brand needs all the energy he can muster to bang with guys like Blake Griffin.

Brand more than held his own against the young, explosive All-Star power forward. He held Griffin, who scored only 14 points on 4-of-12 shooting, in check.

“It’s a team effort any time you try to stop a scorer like that,” said Brand, who had eight points, five rebounds and four blocks in 25 minutes.

That’s a swell thing for Brand to say, but the stats don’t lie. Griffin had 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting in the 21 minutes he was on the floor and Brand was watching from the bench. In the 15 minutes they were matched up, which included the majority of OT, Griffin scored only three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

DALLAS -- Any discussion about the Dallas Mavericks as a playoff team is premature.

At least it is if it’s in the presence of the men who just want to keep their heads down and continue digging their way out of the massive hole they created in the first half of the season.

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The Mavs got a huge shovel full of dirt with Tuesday’s come-from-behind, 109-102 overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers. That makes nine wins in the last 12 games for Dallas, and this one over a legitimate contender was the kind that might make you believe that the Mavs really can make the playoffs for the 13th consecutive year.

How ridiculous would that thought have seemed the last time the Mavs faced the Clippers? That was Jan. 9, when a loss in the Staples Center dropped Dallas to 13-23, a dozen-year low of 10 games under .500.

Fast forward to the present: There’s still much work to do, but the playoffs are a distinct possibility for the bushy-bearded Mavs, who at 35-36 are one win away from shaving and one game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the West’s last playoff spot.

The Mavs aren’t about to puff out their chests and pump up their playoff hopes. They just want to keep on rolling and see where they stand at the end of the regular season.

“We started so far behind the 8 ball that we need a heck of a finish here,” Dirk Nowitzki said after dropping a season-high 33 points on the Clippers, who he single-handedly outscored by an 8-5 margin in overtime. “But we’ve been playing well. We’ve been playing our best basketball of the season, so it’s a good time for that.

“We’re just going to let it rip and try to win the next game and not get carried away and look ahead and not get happy with the wins. Keep grinding and see if we can make a serious push down the stretch.”

This was a win worth smiling about for at least a few minutes.

It was just the second time all season the Mavs managed to beat one of the West’s top five teams. It was only their second overtime win in 10 tries. It was tangible reason to believe that the Mavs’ recent success wasn’t just fool’s gold.

The Mavs overcame an amazing performance by Chris Paul, who scored 10 of his 33 points in the final 4:13 of regulation, including what could have been the game-winning bucket with 5.9 seconds remaining. But O.J. Mayo answered with an amazing drive and lefty finish of his own with less than a tick on the clock, forcing the game into overtime.

At that point, a Dallas team that has crumbled in the clutch so many times this season played with poise and toughness reminiscent of the title run made two years ago by an almost totally different roster.

Oh, Dirk was the good, ol’ Dirk, getting two buckets off post-ups early in the OT to give the Mavs a lead that they never let go. It was Dallas’ defense, though, that made the difference.

They trapped Paul as often as possible, forcing the ball out of his hands and keeping him scoreless after a jumper on the Clippers’ first possession of the extra period. L.A. missed seven straight shots at one point against the scrambling Dallas D.

As coach Rick Carlisle said, this win represented the way the Mavs need to play if they want to be playing in late April. And the Mavs have got to keep this kind of effort coming, especially with their next four games against playoff-bound foes.

“I’m not big on signature wins with 11 to go in the season,” Carlisle said. “This is one of many more wins we’ve got to get. This game was about grit and guts more so than X’s and O’s. As Chuck Daly once said, in games like this, wipe everything off the board. It’s all about attitude. This is one of those games, and our guys hung in.”

The Mavs hung in while Nowitzki missed the first 27 games while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. They hung in after things got worse once their lone star returned and struggled, a testament to the professionalism, pride and persistence of a team loaded with dudes whose Dallas stints could be one-and-done.

The odds are still against the Mavs -- although they’ve improved massively this month -- but you can guarantee that they won’t go down easily.

“We’re fighters,” Mayo said. “We’re going to keep coming. We’re going to keep coming until I guess they say the fat lady sings. We’re going to keep coming, keep trying to get better, keep trying to win ballgames and give ourselves a shot.”

Added Nowitzki: “It’s a good time to play your best basketball, so we’ll see how far we can take it.”

They’ve come far enough to get the razors ready and have legitimate hope that removing the beards won’t be the high point of the season. They’ve still got a long way to go to feel any sense of satisfaction.

How it happened: Dirk Nowitzki proved he can still slam the door on a contender.

Nowitzki dominated the overtime period to carry the Mavs to a much-needed upset over the Los Angeles Clippers in a wild game that featured a Western Conference playoff-intensity feel.

Nowitzki scored eight of his season-high 33 points in the extra period. His 16-footer with 3:28 remaining gave the Mavs a lead that they never relinquished.

The Mavs had to overcome a phenomenal clutch flurry by perennial All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who scored the Clippers’ last 10 points in regulation. That offensive outburst by Paul, who matched Nowitzki with a game-high 33 points, lasted 4:13 and ended with a go-ahead floater in traffic with 5.3 seconds remaining.

But O.J. Mayo answered by driving past Paul on the baseline and hitting a crafty left-handed layup to tie it up with 0.6 ticks on the clock. The game went into overtime after Blake Griffin’s bucket off a full-court, inbound pass from Matt Barnes was wiped out due to Griffin pushing Nowitzki before catching the ball.

Paul drilled a midrange jumper on the Clippers’ first overtime possession, but that was Los Angeles’ last bucket of the game until 6.7 seconds remained. The Clippers’ lone points in the final 4:17 came on a DeAndre Jordan free throw and a Griffin jumper in the final seconds. The Clippers missed seven straight shots from the floor, none of which were attempted by Paul.

Barnes air-balled a 3-pointer that would have tied the game with 22.9 seconds remaining.

Nowitzki scored the Mavs’ first eight overtime points, going 3-of-3 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line before Darren Collison sealed the win with four free throws.

What it means: The Mavs (35-36) are a win away from shaving those .500 beards, and, more importantly, only one game behind the eighth-place Los Angeles Lakers in the West standings. The Mavs have won nine of the past 12 games to breathe life into their playoff hopes. They’re now 2-13 against the top five teams in the West this season.

Play of the game: Nowitzki’s overtime heroics wouldn’t have been possible without Mayo’s game-tying drive in the final seconds of regulation. Mayo spun past Paul on the baseline, dribbling with his right hand, took off with his right foot, twisted his body to get a good angle and dropped in a lefty layup off the glass.

Stat of the night: With his second bucket of the night, Nowitzki moved past Patrick Ewing into 17th place on the all-time scoring list. Nowitzki has 24,845 points and counting.