ESPN

Here’s how Mark Cuban views the first NBA postseason that doesn’t include Dallas in a dozen years: "Mavs fans just want teams with free agents to get eliminated early."

Well, then Lakers-Spurs couldn’t have gone better, huh?

After all, Dwight Howard’s team got swept. Heck, Howard didn’t even stick around the whole four games, getting ejected early in the second half of the embarrassing finale. And then he called his season in Los Angeles "a nightmare."

Howard, as expected, is sending all sorts of mixed messages about whether he’ll stay or leave L.A. It’s at least enough of a possibility that the Mavs must be fully prepared to make their best recruiting pitch.

And, no, there isn’t any question about whether the Mavs would want to take on all that Dwight drama. Here’s a pretty good rule of thumb for NBA GMs: If you can get the game’s best big man in his prime, do it.

Howard has plenty of baggage, but he’s a perennial All-Star who averaged 17.1 points, a league-high 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in a down year while coming off back surgery and dealing with a bum shoulder. He represents the Mavs’ best chance of pulling off the "quick rebuild" that Cuban is determined to make happen.

(That’s assuming Chris Paul stays with the Clippers, which we’ll probably address after the other L.A. team’s playoff run is over.)

Let’s make another thing clear: A lack of cap space won’t be the reason if the Mavs miss out on Howard. They’d have to move Shawn Marion or Vince Carter to be able to give him a max deal, but it wouldn’t be difficult to dump the salary of a quality veteran entering the last year of his contract. (CBA expert Larry Coon details the Mavs’ cap situation to the dollar here.)

First and foremost, it’s a matter of whether Howard is miserable enough as a SoCal scapegoat to leave the Lakers’ five-year, $118 million offer on the table to take $87.6 million over four years from another team.

If that’s the case, then Cuban, Donnie Nelson, Rick Carlisle and that goofy German guy must make a strong enough pitch to persuade Howard to pick Dallas instead of other potential destinations, such as Houston or Atlanta.

All due respect to Dirk Nowitzki, who is more than willing to become the second fiddle to accommodate a twenty-something superstar, but the presence of one of the all-time best power forwards can’t be the Mavs’ primary selling point. Not with Nowitzki turning 35 this summer and James Harden just approaching his prime in Houston.

The Mavs must sell Howard on their ability to build and sustain a contender around him. They did it for a dozen years around Dirk, and they need to make Howard believe they can do it for a decade around him.

Cuban, who is making the great sacrifice of not scheduling any "Shark Tank" tapings during the July free agency period, has to paint a championship picture for Howard. The big man has to believe, with the Mavs scheduled to have a ton of cap space again next summer, that the front office can put the pieces around him required to get another ring.

Two major pieces are in place: Nowitzki and coach Rick Carlisle, who can help the Mavs’ cause by showing clips of some of the plays the Pacers used to run to get Jermaine O'Neal the rock during his All-Star days.

And the Mavs must play to Howard’s flaws, convincing him that he’ll be comfortable in Dallas for the rest of his career. It helps that the front office has a strong relationship with agent Dan Fegan, who also represents Marion.

Is it likely that Howard will leave L.A. for Dallas? Nope.

But, hey, what were the odds in October that the Lakers wouldn’t win a single playoff game? That stunning development – and all the drama that unfolded this season in L.A. – certainly improved the Mavs’ odds of landing the NBA’s best big man as their next centerpiece.

LOS ANGELES -- Sunday could be the last game Dwight Howard plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The question is: Should it be?

The Lakers have already made their intentions clear. They want Howard back.

"Dwight is our future," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said back in February to debunk all the trade rumors that were swirling.

"It's hard to get talent in this league, and to have a talent like Dwight Howard, we have no intention of trading Dwight Howard," Kupchak continued. "He belongs to have his name on the wall [as a retired uniform] and a statue in front of Staples [Center] at some point in time."

They certainly won't be erecting a statue based on Howard's 2012-13 alone. In a season that started with Howard coming off of spinal surgery -- later admitting that his back could have feasibly kept him out of the lineup until March -- and included Howard missing six games because of a torn labrum in his right shoulder, Howard never lived up to the "Superman" reputation that preceded his arrival here.

The nine-year veteran made his seventh All-Star team, but his 17.1 points per game were his lowest average since his second season in the league, his 12.4 rebounds were his lowest since his third season, and his 49.2 percent mark from the foul line represented the second straight season he's shot less than 50 percent from the charity stripe. Not to mention the former three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner finished tied for 14th in the voting for the award this season.

With Kobe Bryant going down with a season-ending Achilles tear, Howard's numbers have increased to 20.6 points, 14.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks on 55.7 percent shooting from the floor in five games as the No. 1 option with Bryant gone. But the Lakers have gone just 2-3, including 0-3 to open up their first round series against the San Antonio Spurs.

All year long, when asked about his future plans after this season, Howard's go-to response was that he was only concentrating on winning a championship in L.A. in 2013.

Barring the Lakers becoming the first team in NBA history to come back from an 0-3 deficit to win their series against the Spurs, and then somehow going on to win three more series without Bryant on the court, Howard's championship goal will go unfulfilled this season.

So, what will he decide to do?

While the Lakers have been forthright with their plan to build around Howard, the 27-year-old has been evasive as to whether he sees his future including L.A.

When asked about what the offseason could bring following Saturday's practice, Howard said, "I haven't thought about it."

Even if Howard wasn't telling the truth, he can't act on any decision he would make for more than two months; he becomes a free agent July 1.

At that point, Howard can sign a five-year, $118 million contract to stay with the Lakers, or a four-year, $87.6 million deal with another team.

While the extra $31 million in guaranteed money might not seem like as big a deal for a player who is on a career track to warrant yet another max contract when his next one is up, Howard learned that he isn't as indestructible as he thought this season, after only missing seven games total in his first seven seasons in Orlando.

According to several sources familiar with Howard's thinking, Howard will likely explore free agency before reaching his final decision. In today's media landscape, that means there will be a circus in July while Howard hears pitches from the likes of the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Even if it is merely Howard doing his due diligence before making a major life decision, the frenzy it is sure to create will give Howard a taste of the backlash he could face if he ultimately decides to uproot from L.A. just one year removed from the "Dwightmare" that surrounded his exit from Orlando.

As bad as Howard's first season in Los Angeles went -- from a coaching change, to myriad injuries, to the death of the Lakers' legendary owner Dr. Jerry Buss, a media spotlight that criticized him for everything from his free throws to lack of effort to the headband and arm sleeve he wore -- L.A. is still set up to be a place for his career to blossom.

The things that could give him pause, mainly his relationship with Bryant and his belief in Mike D'Antoni, can be worked on, and if Howard indeed signs a five-year deal, odds are he'll outlast both of those guys in L.A. anyway.

While Howard has been tight-lipped when it comes to answers about his future plans all season long, maybe his true intention has been on his Twitter profile all this time.

Howard's avatar shows him in a gold Lakers uniform staring down at a basketball that he holds in both of his big hands. Behind him hang the uniforms of legendary Lakers big men: George Mikan's No. 99, Wilt Chamberlain's No. 13, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's No. 33 and Shaquille O'Neal's No. 34.

His Twitter bio is three words: "After the ring!"

We'll find out sometime in the coming months after the season whether he'll continue to seek that ring with the Lakers, or if he'll have to change that avatar of his.

NEW ORLEANS -- Elton Brand, who never returned to peak form after tearing his left Achilles tendon during his prime, is betting on Kobe Bryant.

Brand believes the 34-year-old Bryant will regain his Hall of Fame form after going through the grueling rehabilitation process that will follow Saturday’s surgery to repair his torn left Achilles tendon.

“Everybody knows his work ethic,” Brand told ESPNDallas.com before the Mavericks’ Sunday game against the New Orleans Hornets. “I think he’ll be fine. I know they said there’s no way to come back to 100 percent from it, but if there’s anybody that could come close, he can.”

Brand knows firsthand that Bryant will be in good hands during his rehab. Brand credits Judy Seto, a physical therapist who now works for the Los Angeles Lakers, for helping him come back strong eight months after he tore his Achilles during a workout in August 2007.

Brand regrets not continuing to work with Seto the following summer, when he returned to his East Coast home instead of staying in Los Angeles after averaging 17.6 points and 8.0 rebounds for the Clippers in eight late games that season, giving him confidence that he had successfully completed his comeback. In hindsight, Brand wishes he also would have worked that summer with Tim Grover, a renowned personal trainer whose NBA clients include Bryant.

Working out on his own, Brand regressed, losing some of the strength and explosiveness in his left leg that he had worked so hard to regain. After scoring at least 20 points per game in the four seasons before his injury, Brand never averaged more than 15.0 points per game in a full season. He remained a productive player, but his rebounding and shot-blocking numbers also dipped significantly.

“I don’t think it had to, but it did because I lost the explosiveness,” said Brand, whose left calf is still noticeably smaller than his right. “I wasn’t the most explosive guy, but I lost some explosion, especially jumping off my left leg.

“But like I said, I don’t think he has to worry about that because of the people he’s working with. I think they’re going to have all the machines and all the technological advances to know how to get it solid. When I left, I was more on my own and didn’t have their expertise to fall back on.”

The word Brand uses most to describe the rehab process from a torn Achilles tendon is “tedious.” He describes it as a grind with a lot of two-a-day sessions, a lot of stretching, a lot of working to build back up muscles in the lower leg and a lot of pain.

Brand firmly believes that Bryant, one of the most ruthless competitors in NBA history, will be up to the challenge.

“Just be himself and attack it like he attacks life and sports,” Brand said. “He doesn’t need any advice. He’s driven from within. He’ll be fine.”

NEW ORLEANS – Maybe the fourth time will be the charm when it comes to breaking the Mavericks’ .500 failures.

Some call it the Curse of Omar the Barber, whom O.J. Mayo publicly welcomed to shave those scraggly .500 beards when the Mavs got their first shot at the break-even mark late last month. Believe what you want, but there’s no denying that the Mavs are 0-3 when they’ve had a chance to get to .500, and their performances in those games have been uglier than their facial hair.

The 39-40 Mavs have another shot to shave Sunday evening, when they’ll face the New Orleans Hornets in that franchise’s final home game before officially becoming the Pelicans.

“We’ve been chasing .500 for a long, long time,” said Dirk Nowitzki, the bearded face of the franchise and one of six Mavs participating in the pact. “Every time we’re right there, we take a big L. We have another chance Sunday and it’s a big, big game for us.”

The Mavs were 11-11 the last time they were .500, way back in mid-December when Nowitzki had yet to play a minute this season while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. They dipped as low as 10 games under .500 on Jan. 9, when they were 13-23 after a miserable stretch of 13 losses in 15 games. The .500 beards pact began at some point in late January.

For most of the last two and a half months, those beards have been a warm, fuzzy story. That ended March 28, when the Indiana Pacers blew out the Mavs by 25 points at the American Airlines Center and boasted about keeping Omar’s clippers from buzzing.

The Mavs’ second shot at shaving didn’t go much better. They let the Los Angeles Lakers blow them out by 20 at the Staples Center on April 2, all but ensuring that Dallas’ dozen-year playoff streak would end, which it did when they were officially eliminated eight nights later.

The third strike might have been the biggest embarrassment for the Mavs. The Phoenix Suns snapped a 10-game losing streak with an 11-point win Wednesday at the AAC, causing Shawn Marion to question his team’s effort and Vince Carter to admit the Mavs took such a terrible opponent for granted.

Well, there’s no better place to break a curse than the Big Easy. (That’s a voodoo reference, not a dig at the 27-53 Hornets. With a different kind of curse, coach Rick Carlisle warned that only an “f------ idiot” would take a Mavs win for granted the morning before the stinker against the Suns. We’ll only make that mistake once this week.)

But the Mavs at least have recent history of breaking a possible curse here. They’d lost 11 in a row at New Orleans Arena, dating the Hornets’ quick dismissal of Dallas in the 2008 first round, before winning two of their last three in this building.

If the Mavs can win Sunday evening, they can get rid of their beards and remain focused on the post-elimination goal of finishing with a winning record.

Another loss, and Omar’s invitation will rank right behind the city of Dallas’ 2006 parade plans among the Mavs’ most regretful premature celebration plans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And here come the Phoenix Suns.

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

After the Mavs will have had two days off.

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

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

DENVER – This is the Dallas Mavericks’ last chance.

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

No, not their last chance to make a playoff push. That ship has probably already sailed. It’s certainly far out of the Mavs’ control after Tuesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers dropped the Mavs 2 ½ games behind the two teams they’re chasing for the West’s final playoff seed with only eight games to go.

This is the Mavs’ last chance to record a road win against a team above them in the West standings since Dirk Nowitzki’s return.

If that happens it’d be a mile-high miracle, considering that the Denver Nuggets have the NBA’s best home record at 33-3.

After Thursday night’s game in the Pepsi Center, the Mavs will have only three road games remaining on the schedule, all against sub-.500 teams.

The Mavs have a 14-23 road record, including a 2-13 mark when visiting the plus-.500 teams in the conference. Those two wins came against the Lakers and Houston Rockets early in the season, when Nowitzki was still rehabbing from his right knee scope.

Since Nowitzki’s return, the Mavs are 0-10 on the road against the West’s top nine teams, beginning with a 38-point blowout in San Antonio the night of his surprise debut.

There were also a few coulda, woulda, shoulda L’s in that mix: a three-point loss at Golden State when the Mavs cried foul, firmly believing that Brandan Wright should have gone to the line for the potential go-ahead free throws with seconds remaining; a one-point loss in San Antonio when Vince Carter missed a buzzer-beater; and an overtime loss in Oklahoma City.

But it’s a 100-94 loss in Utah on Jan. 7 and Tuesday night’s rout by the Lakers that stick out in Nowitzki’s mind.

“I actually think that playing Utah only three times this year, playing twice there, hurt us,” Nowitzki said, referring to the unbalanced schedule. “If we would have had two home games against them, we might have won those two, but they’re very good at home so we don’t have the tiebreaker. We needed this one to tie (the season series with the Lakers). We should have beaten them at home. We came up empty twice.

“Saying all that, it doesn’t look good, but we’re going to keep on fighting. This team has a lot of pride left.”

A lot of pride, but precious few chances. This is these Mavs’ last opportunity to pull off a road upset over a West team with Nowitzki on the floor.

If the Mavs manage to pull off the mile-high miracle, their slim playoff hopes will still be alive. If they lose this one, they might as well start booking their late April vacations.

LOS ANGELES – Coach Rick Carlisle cited “embracing our imperfections” as one of the keys to the Mavericks’ 11-5 March.

Perhaps their biggest flaw bit the Mavs hard as they opened April with a lopsided loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Mavs, who rank third to last in the league in rebounding differential, got absolutely dominated on the glass by the longer, more athletic Lakers. L.A. had a 57-37 rebounding edge and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds.

“That’s really the game,” Carlisle said. “I know they’re big, but our persistence has to make up for our lack of size.”

That definitely wasn’t the case in Tuesday night’s critical loss. NBA rebounding leader Dwight Howard grabbed a dozen boards in addition to his game-high 24 points, and he was one of four Lakers to post double-doubles. Actually, Kobe Bryant (24-11-11) had a triple-double, with Earl Clark (17-12) and Pau Gasol (14-10) contributing to the Lakers’ paint domination.

“Ain’t no excuses” said Shawn Marion, who led the Mavs with seven rebounds. “If you really want it, you’re going to get it done. All the loose balls went to them. All the 50/50 balls went to them. It’s frustrating, man.”

Added Vince Carter, who grabbed just a lone rebound in 27 minutes: “We had our moments where we just let them take advantage of us.”

A few more notes from the Mavs’ crushing loss:

1. Dirk’s dud: Coming off his best week of the season, Dirk Nowitzki couldn’t keep it going against the Lakers.

The Mavs’ superstar was held to 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. He even looked like Dwight Howard from the free throw line, making only 2-of-6 attempts.

The Lakers simply never let Nowitzki, who had 33- and 35-point performances last week and scored 30 in the Mavs’ last meeting with L.A., establish a rhythm. He was more effective as a distributor (six assists) than a scorer.

“They had long bodies on him. They were physical with him,” Carlisle said. “When we got him a lot of touches, a lot of times he was forced to pass. Unfortunately, we were unable to hit a lot of the shots where he kicked out. Getting him quality shots is always going to be tougher against better teams and experienced teams.”

Added Nowitzki: “I didn’t have a lot of easy ones tonight. I had to work for it. The ones I did have, I’ve just got to knock down.”

2. Kaman’s contributions: Chris Kaman, the 7-footer with the $8 million salary, led the Mavs in scoring with 14 points after making his first start since March 20.

Kaman, who refused to speak to reporters after the game, made 7-of-10 shots from the floor and grabbed six rebounds in 20 minutes. That came on the heels of playing a total of 12 minutes in the Mavs’ previous four games, including two DNP-CDs.

“I think Kaman is a good player and he’s a guy we need,” Carlisle said. “I thought coming into tonight, our best chance to get something out of him was to start him because he can get open looks, he’s a big body, he can use some of his fouls on Howard early. I thought he did a really solid job out there.”

The Mavs didn’t get much out of their two big men who had been playing the vast majority of the minutes. Brandan Wright and Elton Brand combined for only six points and six rebounds in 30 minutes.

3. Love for Shaq: The Lakers retired Shaquille O’Neal’s number at halftime, giving Mark Cuban an opportunity to reminisce about his days as verbal sparring partner with the legendary big man.

“He was a beast,” Cuban said. “But forget the player. Everybody knows who he was as a player. He's just a great guy. He brought so much fun and attitude and energy to the game. That's what makes Shaq special then and now.

“Plus he was a nice foil. He would come at me and I think when he realized I wouldn't back down from him, that I'd come right back at him, then it got fun for both of us. And we've stayed friends. We're good friends now.”

LOS ANGELES -- Full of optimism after Saturday’s phenomenal comeback win, Dirk Nowitzki compared that stunning rally against the Chicago Bulls to the story of the Mavericks’ season.

Just when you think you can count them out ...

Unfortunately, Nowitzki’s comparison was probably a few days premature. Their 101-81 loss in Tuesday night’s critical game against the Los Angeles Lakers truly sums up the Mavs this season:

They manage to beat the odds by making things interesting, but this patchwork roster is just not good enough to get the job done.

Maybe you can’t count the Mavs out quite yet, but the math sure as heck looks hellacious as far as their playoff hopes go. They now trail the Lakers and Utah Jazz by 2½ games and don’t have tiebreakers against either of their competitors in a three-team fight for the West’s final playoff seed.

“We knew we were behind the eight ball all season,” said Nowitzki, whose bushy beard will keep growing after the 36-38 Mavs failed to seize an opportunity to hit .500 again. “We were battling, battling back. To think we were going to win them all down the stretch is tough, but this is a game we needed to have if we really wanted to make it interesting.”

For a few moments in the third quarter, it appeared that the Mavs might pull off another comeback, kind of like Game 1 in the 2011 West semifinals, a shocker that set the tone for that Dallas team of destiny’s sweep of the two-time defending champion Lakers and title run.

Alas, fate doesn’t smile on a team this flawed.

It took one possession for the Mavs’ momentum to disintegrate after they went on an 11-0 run to trim L.A.’s lead to five. Lakers reserve forward Earl Clark scored five points in the possession after a timeout, making a layup despite being fouled, missing the free throw and canning a corner 3 after Pau Gasol pulled down one of the Lakers’ 19 offensive rebounds.

“We never could get back over the hump,” said Shawn Marion, who joins Nowitzki as the lone Mavs on the active roster who remain from the title team.

We never could get back over the hump. That sentence seems destined to sum up this disappointing Dallas season, which will snap a dozen-year postseason streak for the Mavs, barring a miracle.

The Mavs, a team comprised primarily of temporary pieces, surprised a lot of people just by having hope as the calendar flipped to April. After all, it’s been 16 years since a team battled back from 10 games below .500 to punch a postseason ticket.

It’ll be at least one more year before that happens again, barring a miracle.

The Mavs landed in L.A. with legitimate hope. They boarded their flight to Denver, the toughest place in the West for NBA visitors, with the baggage of harsh reality after being thoroughly dominated on the boards (57-37 Lakers edge), struggling to get good shots (42.0 field goal percentage) and allowing Kobe Bryant to post a triple-double (23 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) and three other Lakers to record double-doubles.

“We have to win out,” Vince Carter said, “and hope that it’s good enough.”

The Mavs will keep hoping to get over the hump, but it looks more like a mountain after losing to the Lakers.

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.

LOS ANGELES -- Is the jumper that O.J. Mayo called “broke” after his 1-of-13 outing in Saturday’s win over the Bulls fixed?

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks-Lakers game Tuesday night. If the Mavs lose, are their playoff hopes over? Listen

“It’s getting there, man,” Mayo said after Monday’s practice.

The Mavs had Easter Sunday off, but Mayo spent much of the holiday shooting in the gym. He also made a trip to Loyola Marymount to get up more shots after the Mavs arrived in Los Angeles on Monday evening, in addition to his normal post-practice and post-shootaround shooting routines.

If Mayo isn’t on against the Lakers, it won’t be due to a lack of work.

His left shoulder, however, could continue to be a negative factor. Mayo is 4-of-23 in two games since spraining the AC joint in his non-shooting shoulder while chasing a loose ball late in last week’s OT win over the Clippers.

Mayo ditched the harness he was wearing to protect the shoulder after the first quarter of Saturday’s game because he said it’s uncomfortable and affects his balance when he’s shooting. He doesn’t plan to wear it the rest of the season, although he is dealing with significant pain.

Facing the Lakers has been a major challenge for a healthy Mayo. He averaged only 11.0 points on .297 shooting -- his lowest field goal percentage against any foe other than the Bulls -- in the Mavs’ first three meetings with the Lakers.

“We all know what’s at stake,” Mayo said. “Gotta go out there and play and perform.”

A preseason guarantee that the Dallas Mavericks would be only a game and a half behind the Los Angeles Lakers when they left for this late-season trip to L.A. would have certainly pleased Dirk Nowitzki.

The Mavs’ superstar just didn’t imagine that scenario would play out like this.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks-Lakers game Tuesday night. If the Mavs lose, are their playoff hopes over? Listen

“I was hoping it would be for a number two or three seed, not for nine,” Nowitzki said with a sheepish grin. “Yeah, it’s been, I guess, a tough season for both teams.”

That’s an understatement. As Nowitzki noted, the Lakers’ cluster of stars (Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol), have all dealt with significant injuries this season, with Kobe currently bothered by a bone spur in his foot and Nash doubtful to play against Dallas due to hamstring and hip issues. It’s also been a season-long soap opera in L.A., with the Kobe-Dwight dynamic as the main storyline with subplots such as firing the head coach after five games and snubbing the brother-in-law with 11 championship rings.

For the Mavs, it’s been more like a long series of Survivor, except the guys who get voted off the island keep getting replaced. Dallas has used 22 players – remember Eddy Curry playing a significant role in the season-opening win over the Lakers?! – and 22 starting lineups.

Oh, and Nowitzki missed three times as many games as he did in any of the previous 14 seasons of his Hall of Fame career and struggled mightily upon his return, the primary reason the Mavs are in the position of “trying to be the greatest comeback since Lazarus,” as coach Rick Carlisle says. (Or at least since the 1996-97 Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, the last two teams to make the playoffs after digging out of a 10-games-under-.500 hole.)

Call them excuses if you want, but there are legitimate reasons that two of the league’s proudest franchises have been reduced to fighting with the Utah Jazz for the West’s final playoff spot. Not that the rest of the NBA feels any sympathy for teams that have combined to win three of the last four titles.

The playoffs will go on without at least one of these teams. Maybe both.

If the Lakers miss the playoffs, they’d go down as one of the biggest disappointments in pro sports history. It’d be stunning to see such a star-studded roster flop for a franchise that has failed to qualify for the playoffs only twice since 1976, winning 10 titles in that span.

If the Mavs miss the playoffs, the league’s second longest postseason streak would be snapped at a dozen seasons. It’d mean the Mavs went from a championship parade to a lottery pick in a span of only two years.

Those would be miserable fates for two franchises that frankly have grown so accustomed to qualifying for the postseason that it feels more like a prerequisite than an accomplishment.

The ruthless competitors who serve as faces of their respective franchises aren’t going to go down without a fight. That makes Tuesday night’s matchups must-watch TV, must like their nationally televised duel the last time these teams met, when Kobe’s “Amnesty THAT” performance one-upped Dirk’s 30-point, 13-rebound outing.

“Hey, both [teams] have a lot of pride, a lot of fight in them,” said Nowitzki, who has led the Mavs to a 23-14 record since the season’s low point, including an 11-5 March. “It should be a fun matchup [Tuesday] night. It’s national TV. Staples Center. Jack Nicholson courtside. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Well, it’s been better. But it doesn’t get much more pressure packed.

The eighth-place Utah Jazz own the tiebreaker over both the Mavs and Lakers, so the loser of Tuesday night’s late TNT game is in huge trouble. That’s especially true if it’s the Mavs, who would need the Lakers and Jazz to choke down the stretch to have a chance.

“We’ve had must-win games since January,” coach Rick Carlisle said, “so this is nothing new for us.”

Missing the playoffs would be something new. The Mavs – and the Lakers, for that matter – are fighting to keep their flames from being extinguished.

PODCAST
Marc Stein joins Fitzsimmons & Durrett to discuss the Mavericks-Lakers game Tuesday night. If the Mavs lose, are their playoff hopes over? Listen

DALLAS –The race for the West’s eighth seed heads into the home stretch with the Dallas Mavericks trailing the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers by a game and a half.

With an assist from ESPN Stats and Information, here’s a quick comparison of the remaining schedules for the three teams. (Note: Strength of schedule is the average winning percentage of the opponents.)

MAVS
Strength of schedule: .485
Home games: 4
Road games: 5
vs. .500+: 4
Back-to-backs: 2

LAKERS
Strength of schedule: .562
Home games: 6
Road games: 2
vs. .500+: 5
Back-to-backs: 1

JAZZ
Strength of schedule: .522
Home games: 5
Road games: 3
vs. .500+: 4
Back-to-backs: 0

The Jazz own the tiebreakers against both the Mavs and Lakers. The Mavs-Lakers tiebreaker has yet to be determined. The Lakers can claim it with a win Tuesday night over the Mavs. If the Mavs win and tie the season series, the next tiebreaker would be conference record. The Lakers are 21-23 against West teams; the Mavs have a 19-24 conference record.

DALLAS -- There is a school of thought that this season represents Rick Carlisle’s best work during his five-year coaching tenure in Dallas.

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

No question Carlisle deserves credit for a job well done. After all, the Mavericks were essentially left for dead when they were 10 games under .500 in mid-January and many times since then.

The Mavs managed to pull themselves back into the playoff picture, thanks in large part to Carlisle pressing buttons to try to squeeze every bit of potential out of this patchwork roster.

“We’re under .500,” Carlisle said dismissively, “so we haven’t done that good of a job.”

That’s humility for the sake of staying in the moment. Carlisle has done a heck of a job to keep this flawed team fighting while constantly fidgeting with the lineup and rotation to give the Mavs the best possible chance of winning.

But a better job than the 2011 title run? C’mon, man.

“Winning a championship is always the best coaching job,” Mark Cuban said. “Period, end of story.”

Maybe that’s simplifying things too much, but that was a historically excellent coaching job that Carlisle and his staff did during the 2011 postseason, which started with nobody taking the Mavs seriously as contenders and ended with a championship parade in downtown Dallas.

Think about the gauntlet the Mavs had to get through to win that title. They beat Kobe Bryant’s two-time defending champion Lakers, sweeping arguably the best coach in pro sports history into retirement. They gave Kevin Durant’s Thunder a clutch clinic to delay what could be a decade of Western Conference dominance for OKC. And they beat LeBron James’ Heat, a feat that might not be accomplished in a playoff series for quite some time, if ever, depending on whether the NBA’s premier player opts to stay in Miami for the rest of his career.

That’s a miraculous run by a lone-star team that was a popular first-round upset pick.

There were plenty of examples of coaching genius by Carlisle and his staff – headlined by two assistants, defensive coordinator Dwane Casey and offensive coordinator Terry Stotts, who were hired away as head coaches.

Start with the psychological wisdom of owning the Mavs’ 23-point collapse after Game 4 in Portland. This wasn’t just an empty it’s-always-the-coach’s-fault declaration. Carlisle made a point to fall on the sword for failing to make adjustments to get the ball out of Brandon Roy’s hands during the Blazers guard’s spectacular fourth quarter, an admission that reinforced a tone of accountability in the Mavs’ locker room and prevented a potentially catastrophic meltdown from having a carryover effect.

That was the last time during those playoffs that Carlisle’s strategy was questioned. Heck, the Mavs lost only three more games during that run.

How about the decision to dust off Corey Brewer when Game 1 in Los Angeles seemed to be getting away from the Mavs? Brewer, a benchwarmer on that team, earned every penny Cuban paid him during his high-energy, high-impact eight minutes that turned around that game and changed that series against the Lakers.

One of the primary reasons the Mavs were able to sweep a team practically nobody gave them a chance of beating was because of their success with an unconventional lineup. With Brendan Haywood serving as the defensive backbone in this particular lineup, Dirk Nowitzki and a few second-unit scoring threats (Jason Terry, J.J. Barea and Peja Stojakovic) lit up the Lakers. Phil Jackson never figured out a way to slow down the Barea/Nowitzki high pick-and-pop with Terry and Stojakovic spacing the floor with scorching 3-point shooting.

The defensive game plan that turned James, the NBA’s most dominant force, into a confused, timid player in the Finals was just as genius. Part of that was the bold move of starting Barea at shooting guard after the Heat took a 2-1 series lead, a decision that ensured that DeShawn Stevenson could come off the bench with fresh legs and ferocity to spell Shawn Marion as head of the snake against James.

We could go on and on. Suffice to say it’s silly to think that a fight for .500 – no matter how flawed the team, no matter that a Coach of the Year case can be made for Carlisle if the Mavs make the playoffs – is more impressive than one of the greatest coaching jobs in NBA history.