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Chris Kaman

Let’s put it this way: Chris Kaman isn’t going to invite coach Rick Carlisle to join him on one of his beloved hunting trips any time soon.

Unless, well ... never mind.

It’s an understatement to say that Kaman’s season in Dallas didn’t work out as well as anticipated. His frequent defensive lapses didn’t endear Kaman to Carlisle, resulting in Kaman spending much of the second half of the season on the fringe of the rotation, failing to get off the bench in several games.

“Frustrating,” was the politically correct way that Kaman often put it. Needless to say, that feeling was mutual.

While Kaman has repeatedly said he’d like to return to Dallas, it smacks of a veteran with precious little leverage who isn’t going to publicly close any doors. The Mavs’ quest to replace Tyson Chandler needs to move on to another big man.

The simple fact of the matter is that Kaman and German Olympic teammate Dirk Nowitzki don’t fit well together in an NBA frontcourt. With that duo playing, the Mavs were outscored by 59 points in 492 minutes this season.

As the Mavs rebuild around Nowitzki, they must find a starting center who is a better complement to him.

2012-13 stats: Averaged 10.5 points on 50.7 percent shooting, 5.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 0.8 blocks in 20.7 minutes.

Age: 30

Comps:

Nene Hilario – Averaged 12.6 points on 48.0 percent shooting, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 0.6 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game. Signed five-year, $65 million deal in 2011.

Robin Lopez – Averaged 11.3 points on 53.4 percent shooting, 5.6 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.6 blocks in 26.0 minutes per game. Signed three-year, $15.4 million deal (last two seasons not guaranteed) in 2012.

Spencer Hawes – Averaged 11.0 points on 46.4 percent shooting, 7.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 blocks in 27.2 minutes per game. Signed two-year, $13.1 million deal in 2012.

Byron Mullens – Averaged 10.6 points on 38.5 percent shooting, 6.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.6 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game. Rookie contract that paid him $2.25 million last season expires this offseason.

Andray Blatche – Averaged 10.3 points on 51.2 percent shooting, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.7 blocks in 19.0 minutes per game. Played this season for veteran’s minimum salary.

Estimated contract: It’s hard to imagine Kaman getting anything more than one-year offers. He might get half of the $8 million he made this season.

DALLAS -- The Mavericks are a much better-looking team Monday.

The .500 beards aren’t all gone, but they’re much better manicured, at least in most cases. Center Chris Kaman is the exception, as is often the case. He didn’t shave a single hair on his face, saying he intends to grow a Duck Dynasty-style beard.

“People are complaining about it,” Kaman said. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my beard.”

Dirk Nowitzki was the lone Mav to shave immediately after Sunday’s win in New Orleans. The majority of the bearded Mavs waited for Omar the barber’s American Airlines Center visit Monday afternoon. Vince Carter, O.J. Mayo and Jae Crowder got their beards trimmed and lined up. Bernard James, a late addition to the pact, went with a Fu Manchu that features a long goatee.

Elton Brand apparently didn’t get the memo about Omar’s house call. He went with a do-it-yourself Fu Manchu, leaving some scraggly sideburns.

“I didn’t know he was coming today,” Brand said. “I didn’t want to be the only one [who didn’t shave]. I actually thought about bringing it into the summer, keeping it to remind me about being under .500, make me work harder.”

NEW ORLEANS -- It took the Dallas Mavericks 121 days to get back to .500.

It took Dirk Nowitzki maybe 90 seconds to get rid of the beard he has been growing for most of that time.

“That shave felt amazing,” Nowitzki said after a 107-89 victory over the New Orleans Hornets improved the Mavs’ record to 40-40. “There was some food caught in there from a few weeks ago.”

That’s a slight exaggeration, but Nowitzki’s forest of facial hair put the power of his electric razor to quite the test. Unlike the rest of the bearded Mavs, Nowitzki couldn’t wait for the morning to destroy the evidence from the pact they made in late January to not shave again until climbing back to .500.

After the final buzzer sounded, Nowitzki made a beeline for the Mavs’ locker room, picked up his razor and began bushwhacking. The beard was gone by the time coach Rick Carlisle addressed the team. After that meeting, Nowitzki and his trusty razor “cleaned up the rest on the neck and behind the ears and the nose hair a little bit.”

Said O.J. Mayo: “I need a barber to get mine. I’ve got to go see Omar the barber. I might get too trigger happy.”

Can you blame the Mavs' 25,000-point man for being in such a hurry to get rid of the beard? Never mind that he claims that his wife, Jessica, has refused to kiss him for a couple of months. It has been a long, tough climb back to .500 for a franchise accustomed to 50-win seasons.

The Mavs hit rock bottom in mid-January, when they dipped 10 games below .500 for the first time in a dozen years after a stretch of 13 losses in 15 games, with Nowitzki making his surgery-delayed season debut midway through that miserable run. Mayo hatched the beard pact a couple of weeks later, with Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Elton Brand, Jae Crowder, Chris Kaman and the since-traded Dahntay Jones taking part.

The hope was that they’d shave off the beards before resembling the Duck Dynasty dudes -- and en route to the franchise’s 13th consecutive playoff berth. Alas, that isn’t the way it went down.

The Mavs are a more-than-respectable 27-17 since the season’s low point, which projects to a 50-win pace over the course of 82 games. But they dug themselves such a huge hole that near perfection was needed to reach the playoffs.

The final win needed to get back to .500 proved to be especially pesky. After Mayo mentioned Omar the barber would be in the building, the Indiana Pacers blew out the Mavs by 25 points. The Los Angeles Lakers whipped the Mavs by 20 the next time Dallas had a shot to shave, essentially dooming the Mavs’ playoff hopes. And the sorry Phoenix Suns somehow managed to snap a 10-game losing streak with an 11-point win over the Mavs during Wednesday’s potential break-even game.

“We had a chance and laid an egg every single time,” Nowitzki said.

No wonder Nowitzki had no patience when it came to his postgame shave.

Hitting .500 isn’t exactly the kind of feat the Mavs have celebrated during Nowitzki’s Hall of Fame career, but it is quite an accomplishment given the circumstances of this season. It was also a necessary step if they’re going to reach the new goal of finishing the season with a winning record, which would require beating the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday and the Hornets on Wednesday.

“This means a lot to this franchise,” Nowitzki said. “This franchise has been a winning team for a long, long time and now the playoff streak is officially over, but we can still make it a winning season and feel good about ourselves going into the summer, feeling good [about] what we did with eight, nine new guys and me being out for so long. I think we can still feel good about ourselves, what we’ve done since the All-Star break. We have a decent record, I think, after the All-Star break, so it’s been fun the last couple of months.

“Before that, there was some rough patches.”

Amazingly, there weren’t any patches left of Nowitzki’s beard by the time he met the media Sunday night. If the Mavs’ superstar actually had an agent, he just might land an endorsement deal with the company that makes his little electric razor.

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.

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.”

DENVER – Coach Rick Carlisle prefers to keep his starting lineup under wraps until the NBA-mandated 16 minutes before tip-off, but Chris Kaman cleared up any mystery about who would start at center Thursday night for the Mavericks.

PODCAST
Rick Carlisle joins Galloway & Company to discuss changing up his starting lineup, Brittney Griner possibly playing for the Mavericks and much more. Listen

“I’m starting tonight,” Kaman said, “but that’s all I know.”

In other words, Kaman doesn’t know whether he’ll play two minutes or 32 minutes. It’s been that kind of season for the 10-year veteran center who signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the expectation of being a starter.

The 7-foot Kaman, billed as Dallas’ best offensive center during the Dirk Nowitzki era, has started 44 games this season but played sparingly since returning from a concussion six weeks ago. Kaman had played a total of only 12 minutes in the previous four games before getting the start Tuesday night against the Lakers.

With Elton Brand dealing with a sore calf that might sideline him against the Nuggets, the Mavs need Kaman now. Kaman has handled a frustrating season like a pro, preparing to play a significant role even while getting two DNP-CDs in a span of three games last week.

“Obviously, I’m frustrated,” Kaman said. “I probably have said some negative things in practices and stuff like that out loud, just being frustrated. But I’m never going to throw anybody under the bus. I don’t think that’s the way to go. It doesn’t benefit anybody in this situation. It makes me look bad. It makes other people look bad.

“I’d rather just do my job and try to do the best I can do at it.”

Kaman, who is averaging 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game, actually did his job pretty well in Tuesday night’s loss. There were some defensive lapses – a primary factor in his inconsistent playing time – but Kaman scored 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes. The Mavs lost by 20, but they were outscored by only two points with Kaman on the floor.

“Coming in and signing here, I thought he was going to get a lot more minutes and a bigger role, but I’m proud of him,” said Nowitzki, who has been close to Kaman since the American-born center played a key role in the German national team qualifying for the 2008 Olympics. “These last couple of weeks, he’s just rolled with the punches and worked out. I saw him run on the treadmill every day, just trying to keep in shape, and I think it showed last game in L.A.”

Did that performance earn Kaman more minutes?

“I’ve been very consistent all year on saying that Kaman is a valuable player for us,” Carlisle said. “I like the way he played the other night. You can do the math from there.”

That math often hasn't worked out the way Kaman wants.

"I can take it and go negative with it and flip it around and just be the worst person ever and try to disrespect everybody and try to figure everything out, but that’s just not my style," Kaman said. "I’m frustrated obviously about the situation, but it’s not something that I can control. I just want to continue to try to improve and keep myself in good shape and ready to play, and when I get the opportunities, try to do the best that I can do."

How it happened: Kobe Bryant and his supporting cast crushed the Mavericks’ playoff hopes.

In a game that all but mathematically eliminated the Mavs from the playoffs, Bryant produced the 19th triple-double of his career, stuffing the box score with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and two blocks while playing all but the final 56 seconds. Then again, it’s no surprise to see a future Hall of Famer come up with that kind of performance in a critical game.

Nor was it surprising for perennial All-Star center Dwight Howard to post a double-double (24 points, 12 rebounds).

On the other hand, it was hard to see a double-double coming from Lakers reserve forward Earl Clark, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds. Clark had a total of 16 points and 13 rebounds in the previous six games, when the Lakers sputtered to a 2-4 record.

Clark’s five-point possession -- a layup, missed free throw and 3-pointer -- after a timeout in the third quarter killed the momentum of the Mavs, who had scored 11 consecutive points to trim the Lakers’ lead to five. Clark’s spurt accounted for the majority of a 9-0 run that made the Lakers’ lead comfortable again.

The Mavs never mounted another serious threat.

Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki, who was so spectacular in comeback wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Chicago Bulls last week, never got going Tuesday night. He finished with only 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.

Surprise starting center Chris Kaman led the Mavs with 14 points, but that wasn’t nearly enough for Dallas to keep up with Kobe’s Lakers.

What it means: The Mavs won’t be reaching for their razors after failing to get to .500 again, and it’s a major reach to see them making the playoffs. Dallas (36-38) is 2½ games behind the Utah Jazz and Lakers in the fight for the West’s final seed. Both teams hold the tiebreaker over the Mavs due to winning the season series.

Play of the game: Bryant made a move so sweet that it left Shawn Marion lunging at the air and slammed over Elton Brand. Dribbling near the right elbow, Bryant hesitated before blowing by Marion and then took off for the tomahawk before Brand could get in position to seriously challenge him at the rim, not that it necessarily would have mattered.

Stat of the night: The Mavs are 2-13 on the road this season against West teams that currently have winning records. One of those wins was against the Lakers on opening night.

LOS ANGELES -- Chris Kaman will be the Mavericks' third center in three games.

Kaman will match up with the Lakers' Dwight Howard, making this the 23rd starting lineup the Mavs have used this season.

It's the 7-foot veteran's first start since March 20, when Brooklyn big man Brook Lopez scored a season-high 38 points in a Mavs loss.

Brandan Wright has been the Mavs' starting center most games recently, but the slight 6-foot-10 Wright has trouble dealing with powerful big men such as Howard. Elton Brand started Saturday's win against the Bulls, a game in which Wright had 17 points and 13 rebounds off the bench and Kaman did not play due to a coach's decision.

DALLAS – The Mavericks figured out a way to get many more touches for one of the NBA’s most efficient scoring big guys, and benefited greatly from it.

Oh, and Dirk Nowitzki got a lot more looks, too.

With all due respect to Dirk -– and apologies to Jason Terry, whose American Airlines Center return was ruined -– this was Brandan Wright’s night.

Wright got a spot start Friday night and responded by making a major impact in the Mavs’ 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics, leading all scorers with a season-high 23 points and grabbing a season-high-matching eight rebounds.

Meanwhile, Nowitzki got his most shots in a week, scoring 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

It’s a mutually beneficial frontcourt pairing on the offensive end. There’s no question that Wright, who attempted a career-high 16 shots from the floor and made all but two of his 10 buckets from within five feet of the hoop, gets great looks because of the attention defenses must pay Nowitzki on the perimeter. And Wright’s success around and above the rim creates more space for Dirk to work in the midrange.

“We play well off each other,” Nowitzki said. “We complement each other pretty well.”

Added Wright, whose 62.2 field goal percentage would rank third in the league if he had enough attempts to qualify: “[Our games] fit perfect together. He’s working the 15-20-foot range and I can work inside of that. When his man is hugging up on him and they’re cheating over with my guy, I can get around the rim and make plays.”

It’s a combination that has had tremendous success in a small sample size this season. The Nowitzki-Wright duo is tied for the second-best plus-minus (plus-87) among Dallas duos, behind only Nowitzki and Vince Carter.

However, coach Rick Carlisle has played Wright with Nowitzki for only 213 minutes this season, according to the NBA’s stats. By comparison, Nowitzki has been paired with Elton Brand for 508 minutes (minus-3), Chris Kaman for 347 minutes (minus-63) and even rookie Bernard James for 128 minutes (minus-7).

This was only the second time this season Wright and Nowitzki started together. The other occurrence was a win over the Houston Rockets earlier this month.

Why not play Wright and Nowitzki together more often? Carlisle is concerned about the slight, 6-foot-10, 210-pound Wright, whose rebounding problems made him a fringe rotation player for much of the season, being overpowered by traditional centers while playing next to Nowitzki.

That wasn’t a concern against the Celtics, who start Kevin Garnett at center and play a lot of smallball.

“It’s his kind of game because there was a lot of small guys out there,” Carlisle said of Wright, who is averaging 12.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in 24.3 minutes per game in March. “That was the reason we started him. He navigates well in an athletic game without a lot of bruisers in it. He played huge for us.”

Added Nowitzki: “When he uses his athleticism, he’s a force for us. This was a game that was right up his alley.”

Those aren’t exactly votes of confidence that Wright can have similar success Sunday against the Utah Jazz’s four-man big rotation, headlined by 6-foot-10, 265-pound Al Jefferson. It’s extremely unlikely that Brand, the Mavs’ best banger, will get a DNP-CD for the second straight game and second time this season.

Wright, however, makes a case that he can be effective against the bruising bigs.

“We’ve got to run,” Wright said. “That’s what we’ve got to do. We don’t want to slow it down with those guys and get into a half-court type of game.

“We can expose those guys. We feel like we can attack them. When we get in those type of grinding games, that’s just not our strength as a team, period. If we can get up and down, we’ll be in good shape.”

With the way Wright’s been rolling, maybe he ought to get a chance to prove himself right.

DALLAS – The Mavericks have lost only two games during Dirk Nowitzki’s career when he has shot at least 80 percent from the floor with more than one attempt.

The Mavs are 14-2 in such games. The exceptions just happen to be their last two losses.

Nowitzki was 8-of-10 from the floor in Wednesday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets, when he scored 16 points. He was also 8-of-10 in Sunday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, when he scored 23 points.

This leads to a logical question: With Nowitzki locked in, why the heck isn’t he getting more than 10 looks in a game?

“They don’t leave me much anymore,” Nowitzki said, referring to opposing defenders hugging up on him at virtually all times. “It’s up to other guys to make plays. It’s as simple as that.

“I can’t wrestle every time to get the ball. You can’t do that for 48 minutes. I’ve got to pick my spots, take open shots when it’s there. I think we’ve been running pick-and-roll pretty well. Because guys are not really leaving me much, guys are pretty much walking in the lane, getting stuff out of that. I’m going to keep picking my spots and be aggressive when I need it.”

While Nowitzki doesn’t see it as a problem, it’s still unsettling to see 37-year-old journeyman guard Mike James get more shots than the 18th leading scorer in NBA history. That happened in both of the Mavs’ last two losses.

However, with the Mavs’ offense becoming less and less reliant on the longtime staple of Dirk isolation plays, that will probably happen again a few more times in the final 14 games.

“If you really watch the game, he’s touching it,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s just teams work to take his shots away. That’s why balance is so important to us. That’s why we don’t want to get in a situation where we’re just pounding it to him every single time. That takes a big toll on him.

“That’s why we work toward movement and balance and tempo. When we have to go to him, we go to him.”

A few more notes from the loss to start the Mavs’ critical six-game homestand:

1. Lopez lights it up: Deron Williams has made it known that he loves shooting the ball at the American Airlines Center. Brooklyn big man Brook Lopez can surely relate.

Lopez scored a season-high 38 points Wednesday night, matching his scoring total from last year’s visit to Dallas. He was 15-of-22 from the floor, with all but three of his buckets coming in the paint.

“Chris (Kaman) did a good job guarding him in the post, but then there were residual things,” Carlisle said. “There were penetrations, there were breakdowns, there were other things that led to him being able to get into openings and cracks. Some of the stuff is just that we’ve got to be more solid individually within our system. Hey, tough night.”

2. Dreadful D: Allowing 113 points per game isn’t the kind of trend the Mavs want to continue.

“The irony is this is the same number of points we gave up the other night in Atlanta, but we scored 127, so it all seemed like it was OK,” Carlisle said. “But this is an ongoing challenge for us being able to keep teams at or under 100. We’ve got to keep going and keep working at it.”

The Nets shot 50.6 percent from the floor and scored 52 points in the paint.

“Our defense just wasn’t good enough,” Nowitzki said.

3. One-man rebounding machine: Another frequent problem for the Mavs popped up against the Nets. They got dominated on the glass, getting outrebounded by a 45-34 margin.

Brooklyn power forward Reggie Evans did a lot of the damage, grabbing 22 rebounds. He had eight rebounds in the second quarter, matching the Mavs’ team total for the frame.

DALLAS – O.J. Mayo has been at his worst against the West’s best.

Not coincidentally, so have the Mavs.

Dallas is 1-12 against the Western Conference’s top four seeds this season after Sunday’s loss completed the Oklahoma City Thunder’s sweep of the season series. The San Antonio Spurs also swept the Mavs, who have lost both of their meetings with the Los Angeles Clippers and are 1-2 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Mayo is leading the Mavs with an efficient 16.8 points per game this season, but his production has fallen off a cliff against the conference’s top four contenders. Mayo is averaging only 10.6 points in those 13 games, shooting .352 from the floor and .146 from 3-point range, as opposed to .461 and .414 overall this season.

The Mavs have been outscored by 128 points with Mayo on the floor in those 13 games. He’s a plus-21 for the rest of the season.

Why has Mayo struggled so much against the conference’s elite?

“I don’t know,” Mayo said after scoring nine points on 4-of-10 shooting Sunday. “Couldn’t tell you.”

Fortunately, Mayo’s neighbor in the Mavs’ locker room offered a much more elaborate answer.

PODCAST
Chuck Cooperstein joins Galloway & Company to discuss the Mavericks' recent play, Dirk Nowitzki's disappearance in the fourth quarter and much more. Listen

“The good teams obviously do a good job on him, like they used to do on Jet,” Dirk Nowitzki said, referring to his former scoring sidekick Jason Terry. “They know he’s a very, very big part. When he scores high, we usually have a good chance of winning. He’s a very good shooter, so most of them don’t leave him. They get into him. Off the screen-and-roll, they quick-trap him.

“He’s just got to keep on working. Keep coming off down screens and looking for his shot. He got to the basket a couple of times. I guess he’s got to just keep attacking. Keep attacking and look for what’s there.”

Coach Rick Carlisle has preached the importance of patience and discipline to Mayo, stressing that it’s especially important not to try to do too much against good defensive teams. Mayo didn’t feel like he had a chance to make an impact in Sunday’s loss, mentioning that he “was pretty much just spotted up in the corner.”

“I just got to have an opportunity to be aggressive,” said Mayo, who has been the Mavs’ third offensive option this month with Vince Carter getting hot. “We’ve got a moving type of offense. You don’t want to be ball chasing or really forcing the issue because that looks bad. You’ve got to just take what they give you and have an opportunity to knock down some shots.”

When Mayo has had those opportunities against the West’s best, he hasn’t knocked them down nearly often enough.

That’s a concern with the Clippers on the schedule next week and one more game remaining against the Grizzlies. It’s also a concern for the future if Mayo returns to Dallas next season.

“He’s got to pick up his game against those (teams),” owner Mark Cuban said before Sunday’s game. “Juice and I have talked about it. He knows he does. There’s nobody who’s more aware of it than O.J. is. O.J. works hard. That’s part of the progression of being 25.”

A few more notes from the Mavs’ second gut-wrenching loss to a contender in their last three games:

1. Bad break for Roddy B.: Rodrigue Beaubois’ season might be over after he fractured the second metacarpal in his left hand during Sunday’s second quarter.

“I don’t know what to say,” Carlisle said. “I just feel very bad for him. He had put the work in. He had been playing well and this was a game we needed him. He’s had some bad luck with injuries. We just hope he can get back. I don’t know if he’s going to be able to this year or not.”

The injury bug first hit Beaubois in the summer after his promising rookie season, when he broke his foot while practicing with the French national team. That injury required two operations to repair and limited him to 22 games his second season.

Beaubois has dealt with various nagging injuries over the last two years and has failed to develop into a solid rotation player, much less a star. But he earned his way back into the rotation with two solid performances last week, including an 18-point, five-assist outing to key the Mavs’ Friday win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It’s now uncertain whether Beaubois, who was unavailable for comment after the game, will ever play for the Mavs again. His rookie contract expires at the end of the season.

“I feel bad for the kid,” Nowitzki said. “It’s just sad. Just so many injuries. He’s been here for four years and has missed a lot of action. … It’s tough. We feel bad for him. But he’s a good kid.

“He’ll stick around. The good thing is when you break your hand, you can still work out and run and stay in decent shape, because this is obviously a big summer for him. He’s a free agent and he obviously wants to stay in the league and have a long career. Hopefully he can get healthy and we’ll see where he lands.”

2. Center switch: The Mavs’ starter at center is back to being a mystery that will be solved when starting lineups are announced 16 minutes before tipoff.

Elton Brand started for the first time since Feb. 1, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds in 21 minutes.

“The starting center doesn’t play too many minutes usually,” Brand said, half-kidding. “I was hoping that wasn’t me, so I was trying to make a difference out there.”

Chris Kaman, who had started the previous five games, had two points and three rebounds in 4:32 off the bench. It was the third time in the last four games that Kaman played six or fewer minutes.

Brandan Wright, who saw some time at power forward, got the most minutes among the big men. Wright had eight points and seven rebounds, but he was only 4-of-12 from the floor, far less efficient than he’d been recently.

Rookie Bernard James, the starting center for most of February, got a DNP-CD for the seventh time in the last 10 games.

3. On to ATL: The Mavs finish up a dreaded four-games-in-five-nights stretch on the road Monday night against the Atlanta Hawks. With the Mavs clinging to slim playoff hopes, they’ll need to muster energy to perform in what’s pretty much a must-win game.

“We have to dig deep,” Brand said. “This is a game that can make or break our season.”

DALLAS -- Add one more starting lineup that the Mavs have used this season.

Rick Carlisle went with his 21st starting lineup of the season for Sunday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, benching center Chris Kaman for Elton Brand.

Kaman's playing time has been a sore subject recently. He expressed displeasure after being benched 2:14 into last week's win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Carlisle essentially apologized for starting Kaman in that game, saying it was a bad matchup for the big man.

Kaman played only 5:45 in Friday's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Mavs are 8-9 when Brand starts this season, including 3-2 when he starts at center. Brand has struggled offensively as a starter, averaging only 5.6 points on 34.3 percent shooting.

SAN ANTONIO – Mavericks big man Chris Kaman is disgruntled but doesn’t want to be a distraction.

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With all due respect to coach Rick Carlisle, Kaman is rather perturbed about being benched a little more than two minutes into Tuesday’s win in Milwaukee. Kaman publicly expressed his displeasure with that coach’s decision after the game and didn’t back off after Thursday’s shootaround at the AT&T Center.

However, Kaman is choosing his words carefully, not wanting to rock the boat too much with the Mavs in the midst of a season-best-matching four-game winning streak.

“Coach put me in a tough position, I feel like, with that decision because then I’ve got to deal with this kind of stuff (questions from media), you know what I’m saying?” Kaman said. “And he apologized and all that stuff, but the damage was done already. It’s a tough position to be in, but we still have 19 games left and it’s really important.

“We’re right at the edge of getting back to .500. We’ve got a tough schedule coming up and it’s important that we stay focused. I don’t want to cause a controversy where there’s a big issue. It’s not really my style. I don’t want to be one of those guys where people are like, ‘Oh, he just runs his mouth.’ That’s not my style. I’ve really never done that.”

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Carlisle addressed the issue with Kaman at halftime in Milwaukee, essentially apologizing for the decision to start Kaman. Carlisle didn’t think Kaman matched up well with the Bucks’ quick big men, especially Larry Sanders.

“He’s a prideful guy,” Carlisle said. “And no player is going to want to be in that situation. There’s nothing I can do but take responsibility and move forward. I got to do better. And I have a responsibility to do what’s best for the team.”

Brandan Wright, the Mavs’ most athletic center, played the majority of the big man minutes against the Bucks. Carlisle could easily justify the decision by pointing to the performance of Wright, who had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 33 minutes. Wright’s plus-minus (plus-17) was the Mavs’ best in that game.

That doesn’t make it any easier for Kaman to swallow his pride. The 10-year veteran, who is averaging 11.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in a career-low 22.3 minutes per game, admitted that it was a blow to his confidence.

“More than anything, it hurts you mentally about your game,” said Kaman, who sat out entire games in recent wins over the Bucks and Rockets due to coach’s decisions. “Like, am I that bad that I play two minutes against a .500 level team in the eighth spot in the East? I didn’t think the bigs were that quick, but that’s not for me to make that decision.”

When Kaman decided to sign a one-year, $8 million deal with Dallas, he expected to be the Mavs’ starting center. He’s been caught off guard by Carlisle tinkering with the lineup so much. The starting center is a game-by-game decision, with Kaman likely starting against the Spurs' more traditional bigs.

“I try to be as professional as I can with the situation, but it’s definitely not what I anticipated,” Kaman said. “When I decided to come here this summer, I thought it’d be a greater opportunity for me.

“Especially coming into a one-year deal, it’s a tough situation. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you it isn’t. It’s stressful.”

As soon as Vince Carter ended a Dallas scoring drought of almost four minutes by drilling a 3-pointer, he turned to the Mavericks bench and twirled his right index finger.

The message: Keep the ball coming to him.

The Mavs did just that. And Carter definitely delivered, scoring 13 of Dallas’ final 17 points to carry the Mavs to the 115-108 win over the Bucks.

“I felt in a groove and the basket just seemed extremely big,” Carter told reporters after his 23-point performance. “I felt comfortable with my shot. I was just in the flow of the game.”

Correction: Carter dictated the flow of the game down the stretch. He was 4-of-6 from the floor in the final 5:31, including three 3-pointers and a high-degree-of-difficulty driving lefty layup.

“Vince was spectacular again,” Dirk Nowitzki told reporters. “The shots he made – the 3s, behind the screen, off the dribble, hanging-in-the-air, lefty, wraparound layup – just phenomenal down the stretch. He really took the game over for us and really won it.”

This sort of performance from the 36-year-old sixth man doesn’t come as a surprise. The Mavs count on Carter to put up the kind of numbers that could merit serious Sixth Man of the Year consideration.

Carter has five 20-plus-point performances in the last month. He’s hitting a career-best 41.5 percent of his 3-point attempts this season.

His numbers during the Mavs’ season-best-matching four-game win streak: 17.8 points per game, 23-of-40 from the floor (57.5 percent) and 13-of-19 from long range (68.4 percent).

“It’s just phenomenal,” Nowitzki said. “I think every time he shoots the 3 now, it’s going in. That opens up his drives and he’s still got strong legs and he’s still got some hops and some hang time in there and can make unbelievable plays.”

A few more notes from the Mavs’ win in Milwaukee:

1. Happy homecoming for Crowder: Jae Crowder had a bunch of big games at the Bradley Center while starring for Marquette. He made himself at home in his first NBA visit to Milwaukee, too.

Crowder snapped out of an offensive mini-slump with 14 points, one shy of his NBA high, on 6-of-9 shooting. He grabbed a season-best eight rebounds and played a productive 36 minutes, during which the Mavs outscored the Bucks by 14 points.

“I love this building,” Crowder told reporters. “I’ve played a lot of games here. I felt comfortable here and I felt comfortable with the game plan, and it just worked out for me.”

The love was mutual. The Bradley Center crowd welcomed Crowder back with warm applause when his name was announced with the starting lineup, as he filled in for Shawn Marion for the third consecutive game.

“He’s about all the right things – plays hard, into winning, team guy – so I was really happy for him coming home,” coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. “I told him after the game that I wish we could play all the games here.”

2. On point: Mike James put up season highs in points (13), assists (7) and rebounds (6) as the Mavs improved to 4-0 with him in the starting lineup.

Rodrigue Beaubois made the most of some rare non-garbage playing time, providing a spark when Darren Collison briefly left the game in the second quarter to get his left eye checked. Beaubois had all of his seven points and three assists during that frame, igniting the Mavs’ 15-0 run that gave them the lead for good.

Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings, a soon-to-be restricted free agent who has expressed interest in coming to Dallas, didn’t make much of a case for the Mavs to pay him big money. Jennings was held to four points on 2-of-7 shooting and five assists. He sat out crunch time, as was the case in the Bucks’ Feb. 26 win in Dallas, when Jennings had eight points on 3-of-11 shooting and six assists.

3. Mighty Wright: Brandan Wright’s streak of four consecutive games scoring in double figures was snapped, but he made a major impact on the win over Milwaukee.

Wright played 33 minutes, getting the bulk of the playing time at center after starter Chris Kaman was benched a little more than two minutes into the game. Wright had nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal. The Mavs were plus-17 with Wright on the floor.

It’s pointless to try to predict what starting lineup Rick Carlisle is going to pull out of a hat.

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Brandan Wright made his first start in almost four months during Wednesday night’s win over the Houston Rockets. Think that’s strange? Mike James made his first start in almost five years!

That meant the yo-yo effect continued for one-year rentals Chris Kaman and Darren Collison. They’ve started the majority of the Mavericks’ games at center and point guard, respectively, but those starting roles are far from certain.

Look at Kaman’s last five games – he has three starts sandwiched by a pair of DNP-CDs. Collison has been benched in favor of Derek Fisher, Dominique Jones and James at different points this season.

It’s far from ideal to have two starting jobs decided on a game-by-game basis at this point of the year, but this has been a far from ideal season. That’s why Dirk Nowitzki, who is still a lock to start at power forward, doesn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for his teammates who are bouncing back and forth between the starting lineup and bench.

“It really doesn’t matter,” Nowitzki said. “Everybody who is coming in has to contribute. It’s too late now for hard feelings. We’ve got to suck it up and play and try to help win some games.”

Carlisle had his reasons for the changes to the starting lineup against the Rockets, and it wasn’t just because the Mavs had to do something different after being embarrassed by Houston a few nights earlier.

James gave the Mavs a tough, physical, experienced defender on Jeremy Lin. Wright provided a significant boost of quickness and athleticism against a fast-tempo, quick-twitch team.

“All that worked out fine,” Carlisle said after the Mavs’ win, “but it was less about the lineup change and more about our attitude.”