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Sixth in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

The curious case of Kelenna Azubuike as a member of the Dallas Mavericks started March 22 when the club released athletic big man Sean Williams, who had spent most of the season with the D-League Texas Legends.

A week earlier, the San Antonio Spurs had traded for Stephen Jackson and were closing in on signing Boris Diaw to bolster their roster for a deep playoff run. What were the defending champion Mavericks up to in releasing Williams and opening a spot on the 15-man roster? Who was on their radar that could provide an immediate jolt one month from the true start of their title defense?

Last year, Dalllas signed veteran sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic and the move paid off handsomely. At this point in the season, they could use someone like him. Three-point shooting -- heck, shooting in general --- had taken a significant dip throughout the truncated schedule and the Mavs would need firepower down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Could 3-point specialist Jason Kapono, recently released by the Lakers, be on his way? Maybe the 6-foot-7 Andres Nocioni? Sure, he was down on his luck, but still he was a 37.3 percent 3-point shooter throughout his career.

Turns out Kapono wasn't coming and neither was Nociono.

Who'd the Mavs have up their sleeve?

Azubuike, an intriguing shooting guard, oh, about three seasons ago before a torn patellar tendon put his career on indefinite hold.

And the Countdown ticks down to No. 10 ...

KELENNA AZUBUIKE
Pos: SG
Ht/Wt: 6-5, 215
Experience: 5 years
Age: 28 (Dec. 16, 1983)
2011-12 stats: Played total of 18 minutes in three games
Contract status: Team option for next season
2011-12 salary: $280,192
2012-13 salary: $992,680

His story: The Mavs signed the 6-foot-5 London native March 23. This was not a shot-in-the-arm acquisition like the S-Jax trade or the Diaw signing the Spurs pulled off (and are now reaping the benefits). Azubuike was starting to make a name for himself in 2008-09 with the Golden State Warriors when the formerly undrafted free agent averaged 14.4 points and 5.0 rebounds and knocked down 3-pointers at a 44.8-percent clip. He was a heck of an athlete built for an up-and-down game. Then came the devastating patellar tendon injury nine games into the 2009-10 season. The impatient Warriors traded him to the New York Knicks, who waived him Feb. 28, 2011. On March 23, 2012, Azubuike got another chance in the NBA, thanks to the Mavs, who knew he wouldn't be helping them to defend the title. So what were the Mavs' hopes in signing him? An inexpensive option with hopeful upside at shooting guard and/or small forward for next season? Perhaps. After all, Jason Terry will likely be moving on and so could be Shawn Marion, maybe even Rodrigue Beaubois and Vince Carter, too, depending on various factors in Dallas' venture into free agency. Interestingly, Azubuike, after playing just three regular-season games with Dallas, was on the active roster in the first round against Oklahoma City, taking the spot of second-year guard and 2010 first-round draft pick Dominique Jones.

His outlook: The Mavs believe they have the best head athletic trainer in the game today in Casey Smith and an elite orthopedic crew headed by team doc T.O. Souryal. Azubuike will be three years removed from the horrific knee injury that put his burgeoning career in jeopardy and one that remains terribly difficult to watch on YouTube. But here's the hope for Azubuike: A second surgery in March 2011 was performed to fix the first surgery that wasn't done properly. Azubuike confirmed that fact on Twitter in March 2011, saying: "The 1st surgery in '09 wasn’t done right. Gettin it done right this time!” The Mavs' medical and training staffs have a track record with patellar tendon injuries after Caron Butler's awful injury on Jan. 1, 2011, in Milwaukee, which happens to be where Azubuike also blew up his knee. There's no guarantee that the the former Kentucky Wildcat will ever regain his explosiveness, but watching Butler this season with the Los Angeles Clippers has to be encouraging that he can at least be a productive player. At less than $1 million next season, Azubuike is low-risk and if he turns out to be high-reward, the Mavs will have made a shrewd move at a time when many were scratching their heads at the timing of the signing.

No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Brian Cardinal
No. 13 Yi Jianlian
No. 12 Dominique Jones
No. 11 Brendan Haywood
No. 10 Kelenna Azubuike
No. 9 Coming Tuesday

First in a 15-part series ranking the Mavericks' 2011-12 roster in importance of bringing back next season.

The offseason certainly arrived much sooner than anyone could have predicted, just like Lamar Odom's premature exit from the Dallas Mavericks.

The 6-foot-10 forward kicks off our offseason blog series that ranks the 2011-12 Mavericks roster in order of importance for the front office to bring back. Four of last season's six free agents found new homes with the exception of Peja Stojakovic, who called it a career after winning his first championship, and Brian Cardinal, who re-signed but made virtually no impact on the season.

Eleven months ago, the title team proved difficult to rank in importance and I started the Countdown with DeShawn Stevenson as the least important. It drew quite a few raised eyebrows from those wondering how I could possibly consider the defensive bulldog and surprisingly valuable 3-point shooter the least important member of the title team to bring back.

In retrospect, the choice probably violated the spirit of this series. I chose Stevenson not because I didn't think he was an asset and worthy of returning for a chance to repeat, but because the Mavs traded for shooting guard Rudy Fernandez, a move that, to me, signaled that Stevenson wouldn't be back. Who would have figured that neither Stevenson nor Fernandez would start the season with the Mavs?

This time around the lead-off man in these rankings is a no-brainer. Odom's career-worst season has to go down as the most disappointing season in the league and one of the more frustrating ones for a franchise in recent memory.

With that, on with the series:

LAMAR ODOM
Pos: SF/PF
Ht/Wt: 6-10, 230
Experience: 13 years
Age: 32 (Nov. 6, 1979)
2011-12 stats: 6.6 ppg (35.2 FG%), 4.2 rpg
Contract status: Signed through 2012-2013
2011-12 salary: $8.9 million
2012-13 salary: $8.2 million ($2.4 million guaranteed)

His story: There's a certain reality TV show on a certain entertainment channel starring a certain Kardashian sister and her basketball-playing husband that can provide the background of what went wrong in Odom's four short months with the Mavs. What didn't go wrong? Dallas thought it was getting a versatile forward who would help ease the pain of losing Tyson Chandler by supplying his unique skills that had helped the Lakers win back-to-back titles. Owner Mark Cuban says he'd make the trade all over again that brought the emotionally bogged-down Odom to Dallas for a draft pick and a trade exception. And hey, when the stunning trade went down Dec. 11, most thought the Mavs had just pulled off a coup and wondered why in the world the Lakers would seemingly just hand over last season's Sixth Man of the Year to the team that swept them out of the playoffs. Now we know.

His outlook: Odom is actually under consideration for a spot on Team USA for the London Games because of the rash of injuries that have taken out star players like Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard. Cuban actually said he'd love to see it, but only because he has such disdain for Olympic basketball, so he figures the two were meant to be together. Where Odom lands next season will be a far more intriguing story to follow. For starters, Dallas will try everything it can to dump him off on a team with loads of salary cap space such as Toronto or Sacramento and throw in $3 million to offset the $2.4 million guaranteed on Odom's deal next season. If the Mavs can't dump him in a trade, they'll waive him and be responsible for the $2.4 million, which will eat into their cap space this summer. Such a result will not please Cuban. No matter what, Odom will be long gone from this organization. A return to the Lakers is not likely since they can't add him to the roster for a full year after the date he was traded, Dec. 11. Could he land with the Miami Heat, one of his former teams that obviously will be a contender for years to come? Well, if he wants to sign for a fraction of his actual 2012-13 salary, then it's possible. Of course, no team might risk much more than a couple million anyway. How about the team with which he started his career, the Los Angeles Clippers? Possible. Caron Butler is signed for two more years at small forward, but Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans are free agents.

The Countdown
No. 15 Lamar Odom
No. 14 Coming Tuesday

Game No. 66 will take a bit of time to get here. After 65 games in a rapid-fire schedule that clustered games in a seemingly impossible amount of time, the Dallas Mavericks will take this week to rest, practice and watch the standings.

The season finale will come Thursday night at the Atlanta Hawks, who are in position for home-court advantage in the first round against the Boston Celtics. Depending on which team the Mavs draw in the first round -- and they might not know before heading into this game -- they might not be coming home for a while.

It is possible that Dallas could face a cross-country trek to Los Angeles to face either the Lakers or Clippers when the playoffs start this weekend. Or perhaps the Mavs would make a pit stop home if the series opens in Oklahoma City or San Antonio.

All the Mavs know now is that they are in the unusual situation of sitting back with four days to rest, practice and watch the standings.

"We're going to mix in some rest and we're going to mix in work and we've got to have a plan going forward as to how we want to proceed for the last game and on into the playoffs and we'll do that," coach Rick Carlisle said. "I'm not going to get into the specifics of it because right now that's not the appropriate thing to do. But it's something we've had a long time to think about and in conjunction with my trainer and my coaches we'll figure out the best thing."

It's quite possible that Jason Kidd has played his last regular-season game. Dirk Nowitzki said if he has any say in things that he wants to play Thursday. Jason Terry, who sat out Saturday's loss at Chicago, said he plans to play in front of plenty of friends when Dallas takes on his former team.

Thursday: at Atlanta Hawks (38-26), 7 p.m.
TV/Radio: FSSW/ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM; 1270 AM (Spanish)
What to watch: The Hawks enter the week with two games remaining and both are at home with the Los Angeles Clippers coming in on Tuesday night. Atlanta is in position to have home-court advantage against the Boston Celtics in the first round, so this game might not mean much for either squad. If the Mavs don't know their playoff foe after Wednesday's games, don't expect Carlisle to coach the game to try to manipulate a matchup. He'll continue to coach with the goal of having his team properly prepared to begin its title defense over the weekend.

The Dallas Mavericks' title defense is on.

By virtue of the Houston Rockets dropping their sixth straight game Thursday night to the New Orleans Hornets, the Mavs (35-28) clinched a playoff spot for the 12th consecutive season.

They can take it easy Friday night if they so choose when the Golden State Warriors visit the American Airlines Center in the final home game of the season. Currently occupying the sixth seed, one-half game ahead of the Denver Nuggets, Dallas plays at the Chicago Bulls on Saturday and then wraps up the 66-game, lockout-shortened season Thursday night at Atlanta.

As of today, the Mavs are in position to open the playoffs in Los Angeles against the third-seeded Lakers. However, the Los Angeles Clippers remain in play for the third seed. Dallas could also finish with the seventh seed and open the playoffs at either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs.

The Mavs will be the first defending champion since the 2007 Heat to begin their title defense on the road. Miami is the last defending champ to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

The Mavericks clinched the franchise's record 12th consecutive playoff berth with Houston's loss to New Orleans on Thursday night.

THE GOOD: Los Angeles Clippers (currently No. 4)

How they have played: The Mavs are 1-2 against the Clips, who won the first matchup at home, 91-89, without Chris Paul. But Dirk Nowitzki shot horribly, Mo Williams went off for 26 points and Chauncey Billups (out for the season) hit a game-winning buzzer-beater. The Mavs took the second game at home, 96-92, with both teams healthy with the exception of Billups. Dirk didn't shoot well again, but went 11-of-15 from the line. The third game might have been the Mavs' most disappointing performance of the year. They failed to show up, shot 39 percent and were embarrassed on the boards in a 94-75 home loss.

How Dirk has played: Nowitzki shot just 38 percent in the three games, but he's getting to the foul line a lot. Blake Griffin's athleticism always creates a tough matchup and defensive specialist Kenyon Martin adds an edge the Mavs are quite familiar with from his Denver days. The numbers don't tell the whole story though. Only Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood and Shawn Marion started all three games against the Clips.

How the Mavs will fare: Most agree this is probably their most favorable matchup, but nothing is a lock for the defending champions. If Dallas wants to move into the second round, they'll have to be on their toes when it comes to transition defense and find a way to get others beside Nowitzki involved in the offense.

THE BAD: Los Angeles Lakers (currently No. 3)

How they have played: The Mavs are 0-4 against the Lakers, but three of those could have gone either way. Shawn Marion is as good as anyone in the league checking Kobe Bryant, but the Pau Gasol-Andrew Bynum connection has averaging 36.8 points a game Injuries skewed games for both teams. Bryant's best game, a 30-point performance in the 109-93 win in Dallas, came with Marion sitting out.

How Dirk has played: He's averaging a double-double with 24 points and 10.3 rebounds, but shooting just 30 percent from beyond the arc.

How the Mavs fare: This matchup heavily rides on the health of Kobe. Nothing will keep him out of the playoffs, and he is expected to return on Friday. But if his sore left shin continues be a problem, the Mavs might catch a break. If he comes back healthy and refreshed after averaging a whopping 38.5 minutes a game, don't count on much rust from the league's leading scorer. Even if he does struggle with his shot, Gasol and Bynum have played lights-out against Dallas.

THE UGLY: Oklahoma City Thunder (currently No. 2)

How they have played: The Mavs are 1-3 against the Thunder and the ugly fact that the youthful Thunder found ways to pull games out late is concerning considering the Mavs prided themselves on such heroics during their championship run, and especially so against OKC in the West Finals. Kevin Durant stole the first meeting with a 3-point buzzer-beater at OKC in third game of the season. The Mavs looked great in one of their best all-around wins of the season, 100-87, soon after in the second game at home. The Thunder returned to Dallas a month later and returned the favor. But the Mavs were severely shorthanded without Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood and Lamar Odom. Durant and Russell Westbrook struggled in the season finale, but the Thunder defense shut down the Mavs in the final minutes to win at OKC.

How Dirk played: Nowitzki was solid if not spectacular against the Mavs' Red River rival. He shot 44 percent and averaged 22.5 points per game. We haven't seen him be "championship Dirk" consistently this season, but the German torched the Thunder for 32.2 points per game in last year's playoff series.

How they fare: The Thunder have struggled late in the season, and losing the top seed to San Antonio wouldn't be any help to their momentum. The Mavs have held Westbrook and Durant below their season averages in scoring. The problem is that no one but Dirk can score consistently against the Thunder.

THE UGLY II: San Antonio Spurs (currently No. 1)

How they have played: It's hard to imagine the Mavs are 2-2 against San Antonio because Dirk has not played well in three of the four games. The Spurs embarrassed Dallas 93-71 in the first game without Manu Ginobli and with a barrage of 3-pointers, which became a theme against Dallas. In the final game of the series, a shorthanded Spurs squad did it again to the Mavs by 17 points, playing without Tony Parker. The Mavs coughed up a huge lead in the second game at home and won in OT after Danny Green's buzzer-beater was reversed by replay and the game went to an extra five minutes.

How Dirk played: In the third game of the series, a 106-99 win, he had a team-high 27 points. In the other three games, he scored 10.6 points per game on an abysmal 13-of-46 shooting.

How they fare: The Spurs have successfully mixed young, athletic newcomers with the Big Three and have arguably been the most consistent team in the NBA. Jason Terry has been great against the Spurs this season, but they'll need Dirk to find his rhythm to get past this potential first-round foe.

The Dallas Mavericks first have to get into the playoffs before they can worry about who they'd prefer to face.

So, we'll do it for them.

For me, The Los Angeles Clippers present the best bet for the Mavs to avoid becoming the first defending champ since the 2007 Miami Heat to be wiped out in the first round.

My colleague, Jean-Jacques Taylor says bring on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

What do you think?

Vote in today's Hot Button here.

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: The Mavs slipped to seventh place, a half game behind the Nuggets. The Rockets and Suns are a game and a half behind the Mavs, and Utah is two games behind Dallas.

MONDAY'S GAMES

Jazz 123, Mavs 121 (3 OT): Dallas missed a chance to throw a knockout punch to the Jazz’s playoff hopes, running up the Mavs core players’ minutes in the process.

Spurs 120, Warriors 99: San Antonio cruised to a win over Golden State’s summer league squad to take over the West's top spot.

Clippers 92, Thunder 77: The Thunder fell out of first place after managing to score only 25 points in the second half.

Nuggets 105, Rockets 102: Arron Afflalo scored 26 points to lead the Nuggets to their fourth win in five games.

Suns 125, Trail Blazers 107: The Suns shot 60 percent and had six players score in double figures to move into the eighth seed.

TODAY’S GAMES
Grizzlies at Timberwolves
Spurs at Lakers

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Thunder

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he won't go to the trouble of jumping through the hoops necessary to not pay Lamar Odom the remainder due on his $8.9 million salary.

Perhaps if Cuban would have sent Odom home after his All-Star break personal leave, he might have felt differently. But with just nine games left when Cuban finally banished Odom after their locker-room confrontation during halftime of Saturday's game at Memphis, Cuban said it's just not worth it.

"I could, but I'm not going to," Cuban said. "There's all kinds of things I could do, but I'm not going to."

Cuban will hope to trade him by June 29 so that the Mavs' 2012-13 payroll won't be burdened with the $2.4 million guaranteed on the final year of Odom's contract.

The full amount of Odom's final year is $8.2 million and even he surely knows that he will never see such a dollar figure ever again.

The question now is how much money did last season's Sixth Man of the Year cost himself?

Had Odom, 32, continued his career track of 14.2 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists, he might have been able to earn the full amount of his final-year salary, perhaps not with the Mavs who have all along planned to clear out cap space, but somewhere. As versatile as he can be, $8.2 million might have even seemed like a bargain.

That was before Odom went off the emotional deep end and disingenuously gave the Mavs mostly lifeless, expressionless outings in front of a fan base that turned on him. Cuban finally turned on him when the owner saw zero emotion emanating from Odom at halftime of the Memphis game after the Mavs had battled back from a 26-6 deficit.

One early rumor has the Golden State Warriors interested in adding Odom next season. If Odom couldn't muster the energy to play for the defending champs, what would motivate him to play for a perennial lottery team?

The teams that make most sense for Odom are the ones he's already played for: Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. The Lakers (who can't sign Odom until Dec. 11 per the new collective bargaining agreement) and Heat, both of which already sport luxury-tax-type payrolls for next season, would be limited to offering Odom the mini-midlevel exception of $3 million in the first season. The Clippers (and Warriors, too) could pay him the full midlevel of $5 million or any figure they see fit.

But why would any team risk that kind of valuable payroll space on a player dealing with layers of emotional turmoil and who proved worthless on the court this season?

"I don't know," Cuban said. "It's not that he can't play, he's just got to choose to."

And that would seem to be a risk that even the veteran's minimum might not be worth.

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: Denver's blowout win against Golden State puts them in a dead heat with the Mavs for the seventh spot -- of course, Dallas holds the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series. Both teams are now a full game back of the red-hot Rockets, who won their fourth in a row at Portland.

MONDAY'S GAMES
Lakers 93, Hornets 91: The Kobe-less Lakers bounced back, barely, from getting drilled in Phoenix. Pau Gasol had 25 points and nine rebounds and Ramon Sessions had 17 points and six assists. His 3-pointer put the Lakers up by six with 26 seconds left.

Thunder 109, Bucks 89: Oklahoma City moved back into the top spot in the West on a rare night in which five players scored in double figures. Thabo Sefolosha (14) and Serge Ibaka (13) joined regulars Russell Westbrook (26), Kevin Durant (19) and James Harden (16).

Jazz 91, Spurs 84: Gregg Popovich gave Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker the night off with an eye toward the upcoming back-to-back against the Lakers and Grizzlies (Wednesday and Thursday). The Jazz are limping with Earl Watson (knee) out indefinitely and C.J. Miles (calf) injured.

Grizzlies 94, Clippers 85: Memphis is making a hard push for a first-round playoff series on its home floor. The Grizz moved one-half game behind the Clips for the fourth seed. L.A. plays seven of hits final 10 games on the road. The Grizz have six of 10 at home.

Nuggets 123, Warriors 84: Denver got a boost from the return of Dino Gallinari, who busted his thumb the last time Dallas came through town on March 19. He had 15 points, six assists and five boards in 30 minutes.

Suns 114, Timberwolves 90: Steve Nash kept the heat on his former team to beat the Kings tonight. The Suns notched their 30th victory and can tie Dallas in the loss column if the Mavs fail to take care of their business.

Rockets 94, Blazers 89: Houston is happy to have Kyle Lowry back in the lineup. He came off the bench and provided 13 points (5-of-6 FGs), four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 23 minutes.

TODAY’S GAMES
Kings at Mavs

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Spurs

Ben Rogers and Jeff "Skin" Wade discuss the Mavs' potential playoff opponents, and the future of the franchise if Mark Cuban can't land Deron Williams in the latest edition of Mavs Pick & Roll.

DALLAS -- The Mavericks had what coach Rick Carlisle described as a "hard" practice Tuesday followed by a lengthy film session looking at Monday's lifeless 94-75 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The film didn't look any better today than the game did last night.

PODCAST
Ben and Skin give us a Deron Williams update as he discusses his free agency this summer. Skin says there's a 75% chance Deron Williams is a Mav next season and a 65% chance that Dwight comes to Dallas the following year. Listen

"No, it wasn’t very good," Carlisle said. "We’re going to have to do a lot better (Wednesday against Memphis). Breakdowns, and it really began with turnovers and transition defense. We’ve got to pick it up."

The Clippers scored 16 points off the fast break, 19 off turnovers and 14 on second-chance points. They outscored Dallas 30-10 in fast-break points second-chance points combined.

And for the sixth time in the last seven games, the Mavs have remarkably fallen behind by at least 15 points and have been outrebounded by double figures.

Carlisle was defiant that his team's disposition would change starting against Memphis.

"Our awareness has got to be better," Carlisle said. "We’ve got to do to things hard, we’ve got to do things efficiently, we’ve got to do things well and we have a higher level and we’re going to get to it."

DALLAS -- It might be the biggest mystery in the NBA this season. Why can’t the defending NBA champions win without their ridiculously underachieving newcomer?

As bad as Lamar Odom has been this season, it’s hard to ignore the numbers. The Mavs are 30-17 when Odom plays and 0-7 when he doesn’t.

“I told everybody about how important the presence of Lamar Odom was,” Jason Terry said after Odom missed the Mavs’ 94-75 loss to the Clippers because of a stomach illness. “You guys are looking at the statistics. I’m looking at the player and obviously what that gives us and what that does for our depth. We truly missed it.”

In this case, it clearly didn’t help that the Mavs were also missing Jason Kidd, who will miss at least the rest of the week with a strained right groin. But the Mavs are 7-5 when Kidd doesn’t play this season.

Coach Rick Carlisle has used the Mavs’ winless record without Odom in the past to emphasize the struggling forward’s importance despite his poor statistics. However, Carlisle was in no mood for that after this miserable outing, saying he wasn’t going to make any excuses.

“I just don’t think we were very good tonight,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “That’s the bottom line. I don’t care who was out there.”

A few more notes from one of the Mavs’ ugliest games of the season:

1. West’s woes: Delonte West didn’t exactly follow up his phenomenal fourth quarter against the Magic in impressive fashion. West keyed the Mavs’ comeback Friday night with seven points and two assists in the final frame, running the point for all 12 minutes while Jason Kidd watched from the bench. With Kidd out Monday, West had only six points and four assists in 36 minutes.

2. Wretched rebounding: The Clippers had a 49-38 advantage on the glass, which Nowitzki attributed in large part to the big differences in shooting percentages. “If one team shoots in the thirty percents and the other team shoots near 50, there’s going to be a lot more rebounds to go around on the other end,” said Nowitzki, who had only four rebounds. “I think that’s not rocket science.” But this isn’t a one-game issue. Dallas has been outrebounded by double digits in six of its last seven games.

3. Jet’s solution: The Mavs’ offense was painfully out of sync without Kidd running the show, registering only 14 assists and shooting 39 percent from the floor. How do they solve those issues before Wednesday’s game against the Grizzlies?

“I have no idea, but we’re going to have to figure it out,” Terry said. “If I have to take more responsibility and try to shoot more, shoot 30 times, that’s what I’m going to do.”

DALLAS -- It made Rick Carlisle sick to watch Clippers guard Randy Foye get wide-open look after wide-open look.

“I was waiting for somebody to knock him down, do something,” Carlisle said after Foye’s season-high 28-point performance in the Clippers’ rout of the Mavs. “We just didn’t do that, and really that’s on me. If we’re not aware and if we’re not going to be physical with a guy that just gets it going like that, then it’s on the head coach.”

Consider that a passive-aggressive way for a coach to call out his team for playing such passive defense. The problem is the Mavs weren’t even close enough to touch Foye, much less knock him down, on most of his buckets.

Foye, who entered the night averaging 9.8 points per game, tied a Clippers record by hitting eight 3-pointers on 15 attempts behind the arc. He was 6-of-12 from long range while scoring 22 points in the second half.

The Mavs made a futile attempt to try to defend the much more athletic Clippers man-to-man in the first half, when Los Angeles shot 52.5 percent from the floor en route to a 14-point halftime lead. Dallas adjusted to a zone defense in the second half, which Foye exploited over and over again.

“Eventually if you play zone for 24 minutes straight, the other team is going to find some openings,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “That’s what the zone is going to give up, some shots here or there. Give them credit. They found them.”

You couldn’t find a Dallas defender in the picture on a few of Foye’s 3-pointers.

Foye lit the Mavs up from the left side of the floor. He hit four 3s from virtually the same spot near the corner in the third quarter and a couple more from the left wing in the fourth.

“When a guy gets three or four consecutive shots in the same spot, something’s wrong,” Shawn Marion said. “When you don’t pick up on that after the first, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt after the second one. But when you get to the third and the fourth and he’s getting the same shot, damn, something’s [expletive] wrong.”

The Mavs kept giving each other confused looks after Foye made uncontested shots. The Mavs weren’t even on the same page after the game on the subject of how they could have disrupted Foye’s rhythm.

Jason Terry scoffed at Carlisle’s suggestion that Mavs should have tried to put Foye on his butt a time or two.

“I don’t know what that was going to do,” Terry said. “You do that and he’s going to get two free throws. If that’s me and you do that to me, I’m just going to shoot some more. So I don’t know if that works.”

Maybe it wouldn’t have worked, but the results couldn’t have been any worse.

DALLAS -- How it happened: With Jason Kidd continuing the string of injuries and sitting this one out (as well as the rest of the week) with a groin strain, the Dallas Mavericks' offense never showed up against the team right in front of them in the standings.

Or maybe put this one on Lamar Odom's absence due to illness: Dallas is now 0-7 without the "Khloe & Lamar" co-star.

Nah, pin this loss to the Los Angeles Clippers all day, thanks to poor execution and no life in a game that should have commanded both in heavy doses from the Mavs. They were sloppy from the opening tip, shot 35 percent in the first half, had just six assists on 14 baskets, gave up 14 points on nine turnovers and were outscored 10-0 on second-chance points. The Mavs' 33 points marked the second-lowest first-half total of the season, surpassed only by the 29 points they scored in that 93-71 blowout loss early on at San Antonio. Yet, they were fortunate to trail by just 14.

Dallas fell behind by as many as 16 with only Dirk Nowitzki scoring more than five points in the first 24 minutes. He had 12. Meanwhile, the Clippers shot 52.5 percent, but they had eight turnovers to keep the score within reason.

Things only got worse in the third quarter. Dallas didn't score its first field goal until nearly four minutes had passed. A few minutes later Randy Foye drilled one of his career-high and Clippers record-tying eight 3-pointers for a 62-41 lead with 5:06 to go.

Foye was smoking hot and it might have helped if the Mavs had decided to put a hand in his face. With the Mavs making something of a run, trimming a 22-point deficit to 76-62, Foye splashed a 3 as Delonte West turned to the Mavs' bench in disbelief. Foye finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 8-of-15 from deep. He made almost twice as many 3s as Dallas on eight fewer attempts.

Nowitzki finished with 19 points and Jason Terry was the only other Mavs player in double digits, with 15. Those two were 13-of-27 while the rest of the team stunk it up to the tune of 17-of-50.

The numbers across the board were hideous: 39.0 percent (30-of-77) from the floor, 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from 3-point range and 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from the free-throw line.

Dallas was outrebounded 49-38 and outscored 14-8 on second-chance points, but 10-0 in the first half.

Blake Griffin had several thunderous dunks among his 15-point, 16-rebound night, and Caron Butler had 13 points.

By the end of the game, Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe was hot-dogging on the Mavs' home floor. Not a good night.

What it means: Forget about starting a winning streak on this important three-game homestand and forget about picking up a game on the Clippers for the No. 4 seed for home-court advantage in the first round. The loss drops Dallas (30-24) 2½ games behind L.A. and three games back in the loss column. Also forget about gaining a game on the Memphis Grizzlies, who started a back-to-back-to-back with a big win at Oklahoma City to jump the Mavs and move into the fifth seed while Dallas falls into sixth. The Grizz are in Dallas on Wednesday.

Bold play of the game:With the first half ticking down, Clippers point guard Chris Paul dribbled and dribbled and dribbled to the point that he seemingly frustrated his own teammates. First Kenyon Martin shook his head wanting the ball, and then Butler as he sprang free on the wing. But Paul just kept dribbling and then, boom, swished an elbow jumper with 10 seconds left on the clock and the Clips thought they had a 49-33 lead. But at the half, the refs reviewed Martin's jumper with 4:24 left that was ruled on the court to have beaten the shot clock. Upon review, it was taken off the board and L.A. settled for a 47-33 halftime lead. It was big enough.

Stat of the game: The Clippers reached two significant milestones. They won their sixth game in a row, their longest streak since a six-gamer in March 1992, and they also snapped a 10-game road losing skid in Dallas dating back to 2006.

Follow along with our experts as they tweet and chat throughout tonight's Mavs-Clippers game in Dallas.