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The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

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ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to touch on the storylines in the NBA playoffs and offer a Mavs perspective. Listen

Jason Terry: JET’s best work since signing with Boston has come since the Celtics’ backs were pinned against the wall.

Terry followed up his Game 4 overtime heroics with a 17-point, four-rebound, three-assist, no-turnover, multi-wing performance in the Celtics’ win over the Knicks that forced the series back to Boston. Terry’s 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range was critical to the Celtics building a double-digit lead that was too large for the Knicks to overcome.

"I'm a 14-year veteran," Terry said on TNT moments after the win. "If you don't know who I am by now, you will after this series."

That was apparently in response to Knicks sixth man J.R. Smith, who was suspended for Game 4 because of an elbow that connected with Terry’s head and stunk it up in Game 5, claiming that he didn’t know who Terry was.

Of course, JET has always been one of the league’s best at jawing. Case in point: He repeatedly referenced the Red Sox’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, quoting “the great Kevin Millar” about the pressure shifting with a Game 5 win.

Jason Kidd: Mouthy sixth man Smith’s miserable performance got a lot of attention, but Kidd didn’t exactly bring much off the bench, either.

In fact, this ranked among the worst playoff performances of Kidd’s Hall of Fame career.

The 40-year-old went scoreless in 21 minutes, missing all four shot attempts. His only other stats: two rebounds, one block, one turnover and one foul. No assists. His plus-minus was a team-worst minus-14.

Tyson Chandler: Having chipped off rust and worked his way back into shape after a neck injury caused him to miss 16 of 20 games entering the playoffs, Chandler came up with a typical Chandler outing.

The big man had eight points on 3-of-5 shooting, 11 rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes. The Knicks were plus-8 with the 7-footer on the floor.

"I felt great," he said. "This game is probably the best I've felt. I felt lively, my legs felt good."

DeShawn Stevenson: Stevenson played a grand total of 16 seconds in the Hawks’ tie-breaking Game 5 loss to the Pacers. He did manage to get up a shot that he missed.

Ian Mahinmi: Mahinmi played only 9:27 in the Pacers’ win. He probably would have seen more minutes if he didn’t pick up five fouls. He finished with two points, two rebounds and a block.

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

DeShawn Stevenson: He dropped out of the rotation when the series went to Atlanta. After a DNP-CD in Game 3, Stevenson played 45 seconds in Game 4. He did at least manage to avoid a trillionire stat line, grabbing one rebound in the Hawks’ series-tying win.

Ian Mahinmi: Mahinmi got his most playing time of the series, logging 12 minutes in the Pacers’ loss. He had three points, four rebounds, a block, a turnover and four fouls.

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

DeShawn Stevenson: Stevenson hit one of his two 3-point attempts and grabbed five rebounds during 19 minutes off the bench in the Hawks’ lopsided loss to the Pacers. The problem was the defensive stopper couldn’t stop Indiana star Paul George, who torched the Hawks for 27 points.

That’s a two-game trend. According to NBA.com, George has 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting in 53 minutes against Stevenson this series. George has scored 42 points on 14-of-37 shooting in 106 minutes when Stevenson was on the bench.

Ian Mahinmi: Mahinmi made his Pacers playoff debut, checking in with 3:10 remaining and Indiana up by 33. He had a dunk and three rebounds during his garbage-time stint.

The Mavericks aren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2000, so we have to find something to fill the time this spring. Might as well keep up with the players from the Mavs’ title team who are scattered throughout the postseason. We’ll have daily updates as long as Mavs championship alums are still alive in the playoffs.

DeShawn Stevenson: Stevenson had six points, four rebounds and an assist in 25 minutes off the bench in the Hawks’ loss to the Pacers. He busted out the 3 monocle twice, knocking down both of his shot attempts. His most memorable plays, however, were a couple of hard fouls.

Ian Mahinmi: DNP-CD.

The Mavericks made their mini-road trip a success by beating the Atlanta Hawks.

It just got better after the Mavs boarded the team jet to return to Dallas. The Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz, the two teams directly ahead of the 10th-place Mavs in the West standings, both lost late games.

PODCAST
ESPN Insider Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to talk about the Mavericks' big win and if Rick Carlisle should be considered for NBA Coach of the Year. Listen

Here come the Mavs, three games out of the last playoff spot entering a six-game homestand. Per the Hollinger playoff odds, the Mavs have a 14.5 percent chance of extending their postseason streak to 13 years.

Not that Dirk Nowitzki wants to get bogged down with details, numbers and scenarios. At this point, the face of the Mavs’ franchise prefers to keep things very simple.

“We’re going to fight at the end,” Nowitzki told reporters. “We’ll see where that brings us at the end. I think we want to fight for every night and not look at the big picture. We want to win the next game, and that’s what we need to focus on and really leave it all out there.”

Since the season’s low point, when the Mavs dropped to 10 games under .500 for the first time since right after Mark Cuban bought the team in 2000, Dallas has performed like a playoff team. The Mavs are 19-12 in their last 31 games, a .613 winning percentage, a.k.a. a 50-win pace.

That still hasn’t been enough for the Mavs to dig out of the huge hole they dug themselves – or even shave – but they’ve given themselves hope with 15 games remaining.

“The second part of the season, we’re just a different team,” Vince Carter told reporters. “Guys are just learning. That’s just the way it is. I think we’ve stayed the course and been relentless.”

Added Darren Collison: "We still believe. We still believe we can make it. There's no quit in us. We believe that every game from here out we can get a win. We're talented enough. We've got the players to do it."

A few more notes from the Mavs’ highest-scoring game of the season:

1. Defense rests: Coach Rick Carlisle described the Mavs’ 127-113 win in Atlanta as a “defensive pillow fight.”

Needless to say, he wasn’t ecstatic with allowing the Hawks to shoot 56 percent from the floor, although Carlisle acknowledged that he’d take the win and run.

Carlisle’s point was that the Mavs would have to play better defense for this six-game homestand, which starts Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets and features nothing but plus-.500 foes, to be a happy one. Nowitzki hammered that point home in the locker room.

“I don’t think we’re happy with our defensive outing, but offensively that’s just about as good as we’ve played all year,” Nowitzki said. “We’ve got a big homestand coming up. We’ve got to be better defensively than that.”

2. Collison on point: Darren Collison lit up the Hawks for 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting, his second-highest scoring game of the season. It was the first time Collison scored at least 20 points since Jan. 14.

Collison took over the game in the second quarter, scoring 15 points in the frame on an array of jumpers, drives to the basket and cuts for layups.

"I was able to get it going," Collison told reporters. "A lot of players in this league, once they get it going, that basket looks bigger and bigger, and that's what happened in the second quarter."

3. Making use of Morrow: Anthony Morrow made by far his biggest impact for the Mavericks in his return to Atlanta, the team that traded him to Dallas at the deadline.

Morrow played 13 minutes – more than twice his total playing time for the Mavs entering the night – and had eight points and three assists. That included some meaningful minutes in the first half. Morrow, known for his long-range marksmanship, has still yet to hit a 3-pointer for the Mavs. He didn’t attempt one against the Hawks, but he was 3-for-4 from the floor and moved the ball crisply and efficiently when the Hawks closed out on him in 3-point territory.

“We dusted off Anthony Morrow,” Nowitzki joked.

How it happened: A Dallas team that had a ready-made excuse of tired legs played terrific offensive basketball.

Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Mavs set a new season high for points, scorching the Hawks for 57.3 percent shooting from the floor. Dallas hit 13 of their 22 3-point attempts (59.1 percent).

Six Mavs scored at least a dozen points, led by second-team point guard Darren Collison’s 24 on 10-of-14 shooting. In his first 20-plus-point performance in more than two months, Collison exploded for 15 points in the second quarter, a key to the Mavs building a double-digit lead that they maintained the rest of the game.

Power forward Dirk Nowitzki added 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting and matched Collison with a team-high five assists. Shooting guard O.J. Mayo (17 points, 7-11 FG), center Chris Kaman (14 points, 7-11 FG), sixth man Vince Carter (13 points, 5-9 FG) and reserve center/forward Brandan Wright (12 points, 5-9 FG) also scored in double figures.

The Mavs had 33 assists on 50 field goals, evidence of how well the ball was moving.

The Hawks had eight players score in double figures and shot 56.0 percent from the floor, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Mavs.

What it means: The Mavs managed to keep their playoff hopes legitimately alive, slim as they may be, by mustering a magnificent performance in a must-win game. After splitting four games in five nights, the Mavs are 32-35, putting them 3 ½ games out of eighth place in the West standings pending the Los Angeles Lakers’ late game against the Phoenix Suns. The Mavs are 5-2 on the road this month, including a couple of wins over plus-.500 teams, something they did just once in the first four months of the season.

Play of the game: After pump-faking and drawing contact from Harris, Darren Collison showed a little savvy and got a lot of luck. He blindly fired a 16-footer that swished while he fell on his backside. The three-point play stretched the Mavs’ lead to 10 points early in the second quarter.

Stat of the night: The Mavs’ 68 points in the first half wasn’t just their most by halftime this season. It was the most in the first half by any team this season that was playing the second game of a back-to-back, according to the Mavs TV broadcast’s research.

Mark Cuban apparently was shooting straight when he declared that the Mavericks almost pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline.

In fact, it appears he was speaking “The Truth,” aka Paul Pierce.

PODCAST
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle joins Galloway & Company to discuss who he wants to keep for next season, O.J. Mayo's impressive night and much more. Listen

According to a Yahoo! Sports report, the Mavs nearly landed the Celtics legend in a three-way deal that would have sent Josh Smith to Boston. That supports the coy claims that Cuban made after the deadline passed with the Mavs just making a minor deal to acquire Anthony Morrow from the Hawks.

“It was crazy,” Cuban said the day after the deadline on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM. “We thought we had a bunch of things done, literally a bunch of things done. We had teams get cold feet at the last minute. … Things that would have used cap room next year, would have had money next year, that were high-dollar guys, difference-maker guys.”

Yahoo! reported that the Mavs would have sent a package of fringe rotation players (Jae Crowder, Brandan Wright and since-traded Dahntay Jones) to Atlanta, plus swapping positions with the playoff-bound Hawks in the upcoming draft. The deal reportedly didn’t happen because Boston refused to send its first-round pick to the Hawks.

It would have been fascinating to see Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki play together a decade and a half after the debate about whether the Mavs made a mistake by not selecting Pierce in the 1998 NBA draft. The pair of surefire Hall of Famers ended up being far and away the two best players in that draft, with all due respect to Mavs sixth man Vince Carter.

The 35-year-old Pierce, whose $15.3 million salary next season is only partially guaranteed, still has plenty left in the tank. He is averaging 18.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season.

Theoretically, Pierce would have started at small forward for the Mavs with Shawn Marion making room for him by moving to the bench to back up both forward positions. The addition of Pierce, a proven closer, could have done wonders for fixing the Mavs’ crunch-time misery this season.

Would the addition of Pierce have made the Mavs a championship-caliber team? Probably not, but it certainly would have increased their chances of making the playoffs and doing some damage in late April and early May.

It’s also proof that Cuban’s competitive fire burns as strongly as ever, as well as evidence that the Mavs are reasonably not very optimistic about their odds of winning the Dwight Howard summer sweepstakes.

The deal didn’t go down, but it’s serves as an example of the possibilities for a creative front office that has financial flexibility in today’s NBA. And that, as much as free agency, will make for a fascinating summer in Dallas.

DALLAS – Dirk Nowitzki described the Lakers as a “perfect situation” for Dwight Howard earlier this season, which isn’t exactly the best way to begin the recruiting pitch in an attempt to bring the NBA’s best big man to Dallas.

Of course, there’s been a ton of drama in Los Angeles since Dirk made that comment while venting frustration and expressing doubt about the Mavericks’ plan to “build around hope.” With the Lakers on the outside of the playoff picture looking in and Howard continuing to butt heads with Kobe Bryant, there’s legitimate reason to believe that Howard will seriously consider leaving $30-plus million on the table and leaving L.A. this summer.

“I guess you never know,” Nowitzki told ESPNDallas.com this week. “That’s up to Dwight. You never know what’s in a player’s mind. I don’t know him. I guess we just have to wait and see how the season ends for them. That’s something that’s out of our control.

“We’ll have to wait and see what happens there. They’ve had some issues -- everybody’s following them -- but I still think they’re so talented. I still think they’re going to make a run at it.”

For the sake of discussion, let’s say the Lakers don’t make a run at it. Let’s assume that Howard gets so sick of the prima-donna power struggle with Kobe that he walks this summer.

Can the Mavericks convince Howard that Dallas is the best destination for him? Of the teams that can create enough cap space to sign him, the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets would seem to be the stiffest competition.

PODCAST
Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson joins Galloway & Company to discuss the team's recent trade for Anthony Morrow and push for the playoffs. Listen

The Hawks and Rockets have a key ingredient the Mavs don’t: a franchise cornerstone in his prime who is locked into a long-term deal.

Atlanta’s 26-year-old double-double machine Al Horford could slide over to his natural power forward position and form arguably the NBA’s best 4-5 duo with Howard. Houston’s 23-year-old All-Star shooting guard James Harden and Howard might be the best one-two punch, period, outside of Miami and Oklahoma City.

The Hawks, Howard’s hometown team, also have fellow Atlanta native Lou Williams to provide scoring firepower off the bench for the next two seasons. Atlanta will have enough cap space to sign Howard and make other moves in free agency, perhaps including re-signing point guard Jeff Teague or all-around forward/Howard friend Josh Smith.

PODCAST
The day after the NBA trade deadline, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban joins The Ben & Skin Show to talk about the trades made and the Mavericks' future. Listen

The Rockets have a ready-made supporting cast with Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons and several recent first-round picks, plus whatever assets they could get if they move productive center Omer Asik.

What do the Mavs have to sell other than the chance to play next to Dirk, a Hall of Famer in decline, and the opportunity to play for an elite coach in Rick Carlisle?

“Same thing we always sell -- that our focus is winning first, second and last, and that we can go out and get whatever assets on the court and off the court that we need to, hopefully in unique ways that other teams can’t match,” Mark Cuban said, speaking in general about a potential summer pitch to a superstar but not specifically Howard.

Deron Williams didn’t take that bait last summer. He opted to move to Brooklyn with the Nets, swayed in large part by the Nets’ trade for Joe Johnson.

Of course, Cuban wasn’t part of the Mavs’ face-to-face pitch to Williams due to his commitment to film a reality show (“freakin’ Shark Tank,” Dirk calls it) on the West Coast. The Mavs’ billionaire boss told his TV producers months ago that he needed his schedule to be clear for the first couple weeks of July this summer.

Nowitzki, who would love nothing more than to pass the face-of-the-franchise baton to another star this summer, is also ready to play a supporting role in the recruiting process.

“If it gets to the point and Mark and Donnie want to fly somewhere, I’m in,” said Nowitzki, whose contract expires, along with Shawn Marion’s, after the 2013-14 season, making the Mavs potentially major players in that summer market as well. “If they need me, I’ll be here.”

The Mavs are really selling Cuban -- “Mark’s commitment to championships,” Donnie Nelson says -- as much as anything else in free agency. If given the chance, they’ll try to convince Howard that they can build a long-term contender around him, just like they did for a dozen years around Dirk.

“You look at what we’ve done over the years in terms of making the best use of our assets, whether they be players, cap space,” Nelson said. “We’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to make two runs to the Finals, and those teams were completely different in a lot of respects.

“You know when you’re playing for Mark Cuban that he’ll do whatever it takes to punch it into the end zone. I think those things are pretty evident. Players know that. They see. They’ve been around. They see what kind of run we’ve had over the past 13 years or whatever.

“This is a place that people want to come.”

This summer would be a perfect time to prove that to be true. It'd take a heck of a recruiting pitch to make it happen with Howard.

DALLAS – Yes, Anthony Morrow and Dwight Howard are good buddies.

PODCAST
Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson joins Galloway & Company to discuss the team's recent trade for Anthony Morrow and push for the playoffs. Listen

No, trading for Morrow does not dramatically improve the Mavericks’ chances of winning the Dwight sweepstakes this summer.

Three’s a simple problem with that storyline: The Mavs will have to renounce Morrow’s Bird rights this summer to have the salary cap space to sign Howard in the first place.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible for Morrow and Howard to team up in Dallas. Morrow could return to the Mavs for the midlevel exception or a veteran’s minimum deal. That was a possibility whether or not the Mavs traded for Morrow.

Maybe Morrow loves his two months with the Mavs and talks up the franchise to Howard. That can’t hurt, but Howard already holds Mark Cuban’s Mavs in high esteem, as evidenced by them being featured on his short list of teams he wanted to be traded to when he was plotting his Orlando exit.

But it’s preposterous to think that Howard and Morrow, a shooting specialist playing for his fourth team in five seasons, are some sort of a package deal. If that was the case, the Hawks sure as heck wouldn’t have traded Morrow, considering they plan to try to persuade Howard to return to his hometown this summer.

DALLAS – The Mavericks acquired Anthony Morrow from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Dahntay Jones just before the trade deadline, a swap of reserve swingmen with expiring contracts.

PODCAST
Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson joins Galloway & Company to discuss the team's recent trade for Anthony Morrow and push for the playoffs. Listen

Morrow, a five-year veteran with a $4 million salary, averaged 5.2 points for the Hawks while appearing in only 24 games this season. He has averaged 11.5 points and shot 42.5 percent from 3-point range in his career.

“He’s one of the best shooters in the game,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “You can never have too many shooters.

“We want to thank Dahntay for what he brought to us over a period of four or five months. He brought toughness. He helped us win some games. He’s a pro, so he’s going to be successful wherever he goes. Atlanta got a good player and we got a guy we feel can help us stretch the defense even more.”

PODCAST
Coop and Nate discuss the Mavericks acquiring Anthony Morrow from the Hawks in exchange for Dahntay Jones just before the NBA trade deadline. Listen

Jones averaged 3.5 points in 50 games for the Mavs, including 15 starts. However, he’s become a fringe rotation player recently, playing just 1:42 in Wednesday night’s win over the Orlando Magic.

The 6-foot-5, 210-pound Morrow, who spent two seasons with the Golden State Warriors and two with the New Jersey Nets, is likely to back up O.J. Mayo at shooting guard.

"It’s pretty clear that we were in the market for a shooter and we feel that we made a major upgrade," Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said.

Carlisle said he wasn’t certain whether Morrow would join the team in time for Friday’s game in New Orleans.

"Looks like I'm officially a Mav!” Morrow tweeted. “Thank you for all the welcome tweets! Can't wait to feel that AA center energy soon!!!!"

DALLAS – Forget the Mavericks’ failure to finish. Coach Rick Carlisle preferred to rant about his team’s wretched start in Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Never mind that the Mavs still managed to take a five-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, only to blow it down the stretch.

PODCAST
Has the time come for the Mavericks to take the ball out of O.J. Mayo's hands at the end of games? Coop and Nate discuss. Listen

“The game was lost in the first three minutes when we were down 10-0 and weren’t ready to play,” said Carlisle, who called a couple of timeouts before the Mavs managed to score a point. “If you want it simple, that’s simple. It’s on me. I didn’t have our guys ready to play, so I’m taking all the responsibility for this.

“You’ve got a team of guys that just goes out and is just kind of walking around. At the beginning of the game. That’s on the coach.”

Elton Brand comes off the bench, so he can’t be blamed for the Mavs’ bad start. But he had an explanation for the Mavs’ stumbling out of the gates that was as good as any, although it’s inexcusable.

Maybe the Mavs got a little full of themselves after opening the homestand with a couple of wins.

“The mood before tonight was, OK, we have a chance,” Brand said. “We felt good about ourselves and it might have been to our detriment. Tonight, we might have been feeling a little too good at the offset of the game.”

The Mavs felt miserable after the game, dealing with the sickening feeling of faltering down the stretch yet again. They fell to 8-13 in games that were within three points in the final minute of regulation this season.

O.J. Mayo committed two turnovers to complete this clutch crumbling. Those were the most glaring of many mistakes in the final five minutes.

“We definitely needed to have that one,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “I don’t even know what to say. It’s a game we needed to have. It’s a tough one. We had our chances.”

A few more notes from the Mavs’ frustrating loss:

1. Mayo’s mistakes: Two poor possessions in the final minute made Mayo’s 19 points a mere footnote.

With the Mavs down one, Mayo was trying to finish a fast break with a go-ahead layup when ex-Mav Devin Harris stripped the ball from behind with 23.9 seconds remaining. The Mavs were forced to foul Josh Smith, who made both free throws to extend Atlanta’s lead to three.

On the ensuing possession, Mayo threw a poor pass that was picked off by Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague, essentially sealing the Mavs’ fate. The Hawks fooled Mayo by switching at the point of a screen on a pick-and-pop with Vince Carter and the pass hit Teague in the head as he blanketed Carter, who Mayo hoped to set up for a 3-pointer.

“I’ve just gotta take care of the ball,” Mayo said. “It’s just an opportunity for us to win the game and we’ve got to take care of the ball better.”

It’s been a recurring problem for Mayo in close games. His 15 clutch turnovers this season are tied for the third most in the league, according to the NBA’s advanced statistics.

2. Scorching Smith: The book on Atlanta forward Josh Smith is to let him try to beat you with his jumper. Well, he did just that to the Mavs.

Smith scored a game-high 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He was 4-of-5 from 3-point range and made three more long jumpers.

“He’s so good at putting the ball on the deck and so athletic that obviously I’ve got to give him a step or two,” said Nowitzki, who defended Smith most of the night. “He just looked really good stepping into his shot and really confident. The way he was going, I probably should have closed out harder and made him put the ball on the deck, but that’s usually his game.”

3. Cuban’s commitment: Owner Mark Cuban, who hadn’t been around the Mavs for a couple of weeks while he dealt with other business interests, returned with a day’s worth of stubble on his face. He vowed to join the bunch of Mavs who are letting their beards grow … but only for the rest of the week.

“I just have to see what happens with this other [business] stuff,” Cuban said. “ I can’t go and sell a big chunk of my company and show up all scruffy.”

Cuban said he thinks the pact to not shave until the Mavs get back to .500 is “fun.” He joked that the only downside was that his wife stopped shaving.

How it happened: The Dallas Mavericks weren’t able to finish once again.

It didn’t help matters that Dallas spotted the Atlanta Hawks a 10-0 lead, with Rick Carlisle calling a couple of timeouts before the Mavs scored a point -- but this still came down to crunch time. And the Mavs came up short again, as has so often been the case during this frustrating season for Dallas.

PODCAST
A Ben & Skin discussion on the Mavericks' trade possibilities turns into a discussion about why the Mavs need Dwight Howard. Listen

The Mavs, who went more than four minutes without a field goal during a fourth quarter that can be politely described as painful to watch, still had a chance to take the lead in the final minute. O.J. Mayo was bolting to the basket on a fast break, but ex-Mav Devin Harris chased him down from behind for the steal.

Mayo had another turnover with 13.6 seconds remaining to essentially seal the loss for the Mavs. With Dallas down three, Mayo made a poor pass to Vince Carter that was picked off by Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague.

The Mavs wasted a slump-busting, 24-point performance by Dirk Nowitzki, who knocked down eight of his 14 shots from the floor. Mayo added 19 points on 9-of-20 shooting, but he also had four turnovers, including the two critical cough-ups down the stretch.

The Hawks got dominant performances from their two best players. Josh Smith (26 points, 13 rebounds, six assists) and Al Horford (21 points, 10 rebounds) both had major-damage double-doubles. Teague added 20 points and nine assists.

What it means: So much for the Mavs’ hope of an undefeated homestand entering the All-Star break. The Mavs’ modest two-game winning streak was snapped, dropping Dallas to 22-29 and five games behind the Houston Rockets for eighth place in the Western Conference. The 28-22 Hawks stand in sixth place in the East.

Play of the game: Smith grabbed a defensive rebound, pushed it in transition, blew by Nowitzki and threw down a vicious one-handed dunk in Bernard James’ face. James ended up with a prominent role in the poster, but the problem was that a traffic cone could have been as effective as Nowitzki’s transition defense in this instance.

Stat of the night: The Mavs are 0-4 when Nowitzki scores at least 20 points this season.

The Mavericks are halfway toward accomplishing their mission on this pre-All-Star break homestand.

They beat the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors last week. They need two more wins this week to go into the break with a little momentum and some hope that they’ll be able to make a playoff push down the stretch.

A quick look at this week’s foes:

Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. Monday, American Airlines Center: The 27-22 Hawks are a playoff-caliber team, but they’re only 10-13 on the road. Atlanta, which is a main hub of the trade rumor mill, isn’t playing well recently, having lost three of its last four games. On-the-block forward Josh Smith is a box score-stuffer (16.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.2 bpg, 1.3 spg) who does opponents a favor by jacking up so many long jumpers. Center Al Horford (15.9 ppg, 9.7 rpg) is a handful. The Hawks sorely miss high-scoring sixth man Lou Williams, who is out for the season with a knee injury.

Sacramento Kings, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, American Airlines Center: The Kings (19-33) have to face the physical Grizzlies in Memphis the previous night, so the schedule certainly works in the Mavs’ favor here. You still shouldn’t just assume that this will be an easy win. The Kings snapped out of a miserable funk this weekend with back-to-back wins over Utah and Houston. Point guard Isaiah Thomas averaged 24 points in that pair of victories. For better or worse, the Kings continue to revolve around enigmatic big man DeMarcus Cousins (17.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg). He averaged 27.0 points on 61.3 shooting in the previous two meetings with the Mavs this season.

DALLAS – All indications are that the Mavericks are not among the teams bidding on Josh Smith after the Hawks put the versatile forward on the trade block.

PODCAST
A Ben & Skin discussion on the Mavericks' trade possibilities turns into a discussion about why the Mavs need Dwight Howard. Listen

Should they be?

First of all, with the Mavs’ lack of intriguing young talent, it’s far from certain that they could put together a trade proposal that would be attractive enough to persuade the Hawks to pull the trigger on shipping Smith to Dallas. However, for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that a package of veteran forward Shawn Marion and rookie center Bernard James would get the deal done.

Would that increase the Mavs’ odds of making the playoffs this season? More importantly, could it significantly improve the Mavs’ immediate future?

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Smith, 27, who will be on display at the American Airlines Center when the Hawks visit Monday night, could be considered a younger, taller version of Marion. Smith averages more points (16.9 to 11.6), rebounds (8.5 to 8.3), assists (4.0 to 2.9), blocks (2.2 to 0.7) and steals (1.3 to 0.9) but has worse shooting percentages across the board.

Despite the numbers, it’s difficult to argue that Smith would definitely be an upgrade for the remainder of the season, considering he’d have to learn the Mavs’ systems on the fly and Marion has been magnificent recently, averaging 18.8 points and 10.0 rebounds in Dallas’ last five games.

Plus, the Mavs would be giving up a contributor in James, a key energy source who has worked his way into the starting lineup lately. The Mavs are 3-2 when James starts.

As far as the future goes, keep in mind that the Hawks wouldn’t be shopping Smith unless he made it clear that he wants to cash in with a max contract this summer.

It’d be worth gambling on Smith if he gave the Mavs a better chance of luring his best buddy Dwight Howard to Dallas. Unfortunately, money is much more important than friendship in free agency.

And the Mavs won’t have enough cap space to make Howard and Smith happy, even if they shed Marion’s $9.3 million salary next season.

It’s a simple matter of math. Smith can make $16.4 million in the first season of a max deal. Howard can make $20.5 million (105 percent of his current salary). Dirk Nowitzki is due $22.7 million. The cap this season is $58.044 million – or less than what those three will get paid if Smith gets his wish.

Oh, and the Mavs also owe Vince Carter ($3.2 million), Jared Cunningham ($1.2 million) and Jae Crowder ($789,000) guaranteed money next season. Maybe the Mavs could pull off some cap gymnastics and dump those salaries this summer, but they aren’t going to be able to convince Smith and/or Howard to take less to come to Dallas and team up with Dirk on a depth-deprived team.

“Hey, we can bring back Mike James on a minimum deal to run the point,” isn’t much of a sales pitch.

Of course, the Mavs could make the deal for Smith and simply re-sign him, sacrificing their chance to win the Dwight sweepstakes. But Smith is a good player, not a superstar, as evidenced by the fact he’s never played in an All-Star Game. He’s not a guy worthy of Dirk passing the baton as the face of the Mavs’ franchise.

Committing max money to Smith wouldn’t make the Mavs contenders. It’d basically be an admission that letting Tyson Chandler go was a major mistake.

The Mavs would be better off keeping Marion, whose trade value will be higher next season when his contract will be expiring, and hanging on to their slim hopes of signing Howard.

DALLAS -- Mavericks center Chris Kaman has a strained calf and will not be making the trip for the preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, coach Rick Carlisle said.

"He's going to stay here and get treatment on it and hopefully get ready for next week," Carlisle said.

Mavs head athletic trainer Casey Smith will stay in Dallas over the weekend to treat and monitor Kaman and Dirk Nowitzki, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Friday.

Kaman's durability issues are the biggest concern for the 30-year-old big man who signed a one-year, $8 million deal with Dallas this summer. He has missed a total of 152 games over the previous five seasons due to a variety of injuries.

This is the second time that Kaman, who has not practiced the last two days, has been injured during training camp. He sprained his lower back during the Mavs' first practice, but he returned in time to play in the team's preseason opener the next week.