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

Surely one can look around the NBA and field a lineup of unfulfilled careers. With the Dallas Mavericks that search stops with Rodrigue Beaubois, the highly-talented guard whose career appeared headed toward the stars until the unfortunate day when the fifth metatarsal in his left foot snapped.

Nothing's been the same since. And everything's been a struggle.

Beaubois is heading into the most important summer of his young NBA career and he knows it.

"I cannot tell you what is going to happen, but obviously I know that this summer is going to be big for me," Beaubois said. "I have to work out a lot and make sure that I am ready because if they give me space (more playing time) I will have to be ready for that."

For the first time in three summers, Beaubois is healthy and able to train. He broke his foot in early August 2010 training with the French national team and underwent surgery soon after. He missed two-thirds of the following season because he re-injured the foot and then hurt it again in the final game of the regular season, forcing him out of the entire championship run and back into the operating room.

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Few inroads were made this season and so here we are at a crossroads. Beaubois is effectively entering the final year of his contract. The Mavs can make a qualifying offer next summer or they can say goodbye.

The Countdown ticks down to No. 7...

RODRIGUE BEAUBOIS
Pos.: G
Ht./Wt.: 6-foot-2, 180
Experience: 3 years
Age: 24 (Feb. 24, 1988)
2011-12 stats: 8.9 ppg (42.2 FG, 28.8 3FG, 2.9 apg)
Contract status: Signed through 2012-13
2011-12 salary: $1.2 million
2012-13 salary: $2.2 million

His story: The second surgery ruined another summer of work and development with the lockout adding another layer of frustration because it prevented Beaubois from working, or even visiting, with Rick Carlisle and the coaching staff. Once again, Beaubois' role this season is in total limbo because that's also where the Mavs' roster is. Will they sign Deron Williams and re-sign Jason Kidd to back him up at point guard? Will Delonte West and/or Jason Terry return along with Vince Carter to fortify the shooting guard position? And then there's the whole issue of whether he's a point guard -- which he mostly played to varying degrees of success this season -- or a shooting guard, or does it even matter? Or will that be determined simply by where there is room for him?

His outlook: Any number of backcourt variables that emerge after July 1 could open up playing time for Beaubois or again leave him buried behind a veteran crew. Or, in yet another scenario, Beaubois could get caught up in a trade to create additional cap space. Beaubois was essentially out of the rotation in the playoffs, leaving him with still virtually no postseason experience in three trips. Will the 2012-13 season be something of a rebirth for Beaubois in Dallas or the beginning of the end?

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 Ian Mahinmi
No. 8 Vince Carter
No. 7 Rodrigue Beaubois
No. 6 Coming Friday

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

Bringing in Vince Carter last season, even at a buyer-friendly price, felt like a reach for a team with an already aging roster. Anyone who'd seen him play the previous two seasons with Orlando and Phoenix could only surmise that Carter was postponing the inevitable.

And then he got to town and Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle almost instantly, and rather shrewdly, started talking up the eight-time All-Star and former slam dunk champ as a sure-fire Hall of Famer whose basketball IQ soared as high as his dunks used to.

"Guys who are eight-time All-Stars are Hall of Famers. And there's a reason," Carlisle said shortly after the delayed start to the season in late December. "He's been a great player and he knows how to play. He's going to fit in great with what we're doing just because he's a hell of a basketball player."

It's hard to say that Carlisle wasn't right, to an extent.

Carter got off to a strong start, burying 3-pointers at a team-best clip, flashing a nice post-up game and scrapping on defense all the while giving the Mavs the versatility to play him at shooting guard or small forward. But after the All-Star break Carter started to slow down, and other than a brief hot streak, the swoon carried into the playoffs where he shot just 29.3 percent from the floor and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc.

All-in-all, Carter started 40 of the 61 games he played, when at this point in his career he's probably most effective as a scorer off the bench where he can take advantage of smaller and less talented reserves.

Carter will turn 36 in January, and the odds are that he will celebrate his birthday in a Mavs uniform.

The Countdown rolls on at No. 8 ...

VINCE CARTER
Pos.: SG/SF
Ht./Wt.: 6-foot-6, 220
Experience: 14 years
Age: 35 (Jan. 26, 1977)
2011-12 stats: 5.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 18.7 mpg
Contract status: Signed through 2013-14
2011-12 salary: $3 million
2012-13 salary: $3.1 million (partially guaranteed)

His story: Billed as half-man, half-amazing, Carter proved to be half-mortal in his first season with the Mavs. It can certainly be argued that injuries, particularly the broken finger that sidelined Delonte West for six weeks, played a part in Carter's decline. Carter was at his most effective when limited to about 25 minutes or less, but Carlisle had no choice but to keep him on the floor more through West's injury. Plus, Jason Kidd missed 18 games, mostly due to three separate injuries. Through the first 25 games, Carter logged 25 minutes or fewer 14 times, compared to 15 times in the final 36 games. Perhaps a better comparison though is the fact that he played 30 minutes or more just twice in those first 25 games, and 10 times in the final 36. It makes it difficult to argue that wear-and-tear didn't play a role in Carter's downturn or that playing fewer minutes consistently next season could serve him and the Mavs well.

His outlook: Carter is signed for the next two seasons at little more than $3 million for each, however his contract is not fully guaranteed. It is guaranteed enough for next season that, barring a major trade that would sweep him up, the odds are high that Carter will stick around here for at least one more season. One has to wonder though if the Mavs wouldn't be better off allotting Carter's minutes to younger players such as Rodrigue Beaubois (assuming he remains on the team), who the Mavs must get a full, healthy season out of to evaluate in what is essentially the final year of his deal, or to a player like Kelenna Azubuike. At this point, Carter would seem to be more of a last-piece-to-the-puzzle type that could bolster a contender's bench. But hey, who knows, depending on what transpires in free agency, the Mavs might or might not become such a squad.

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 Ian Mahinmi
No. 8 Vince Carter
No. 7 Coming Thursday

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

The Mavs’ front office doesn’t believe that Tyson Chandler would have made that much of a difference in Dallas this season.

So it’s safe to assume that Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson aren’t kicking themselves for letting Corey Brewer go for essentially nothing.

Still … it was impossible to watch the skinny swingman light up the Lakers last night and not think that the Mavs could use that kind of youth, athleticism and energy on their roster.

Brewer’s shining moment during his brief time with the Mavericks was sparking a comeback from a 16-point deficit at the Staples Center in Game 1 of the West semifinals sweep of the Lakers. He was even better in Thursday’s Game 6, scoring 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting while playing his typical tenacious defense during 19 minutes in the Nuggets’ series-tying win.

Dallas shipped Brewer to Denver along with Rudy Fernandez, who never reported to the Mavericks, in December, getting a 2016 second-round pick in return. It was a classic salary dump after the Mavs deemed the young wings expendable after signing Vince Carter and trading for Lamar Odom.

The Mavs rid themselves of a malcontent in Fernandez. They got rid of a good guy in Brewer.

But dumping Brewer was all about the money. He had a $3,059,000 salary this season, which would have been doubled for Cuban due to the luxury tax. Brewer is due $3,243,000 next season -- not a bad price at all for a rotation player, but a ton to pay a benchwarmer.

The Mavs believed Brewer would have been a benchwarmer in Dallas. The Nuggets found a niche for him, and he’s earning his money in the playoffs again.

DALLAS -- Mavericks forward Shawn Marion knows he could fall victim to the amnesty clause this summer and be forced to resume his career somewhere else next season.

"I'm a Dallas Maverick right now," Marion said Sunday during the team's exit interviews. "That's all that matters."

Few speak the truth like Marion, even if it's sometimes in his own specialized Matrix language. Still, if you want to know what's up, Marion is the man to talk to. After Games 1 and 2 at Oklahoma City, Marion was fuming that the Mavs put themselves in position to lose both games late, which they did.

He was exasperated that Kevin Durant's Game 1 game-winner totally overshadowed his 10-of-27 shooting performance with Marion locking him down, and he had some choice words about that bucket. On Sunday, as players cleaned out their lockers one day after the Thunder's monstrous fourth-quarter comeback to sweep the series, Marion told it like he sees it.

"You know, to recover from this, we've just got to regroup, refocus and really dig deep inside and decide if you want to go out there and try to win another one. That's the biggest thing," he said. "It's frustrating to be sitting here talking about it, saying how we just got beat in the first round of the playoffs. To go out like that, I'm very disappointed, especially because I really love competing and I try to go out there and lay it on the line every night and just came up short.

"They was a better team. They did everything right and everything bounced their way, and it's frustrating when you're sitting here thinking about, contemplating what's the scenario, this or that. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of free agents on this team and we're going to see what's going to happen for the summer and go from there."

Marion, easily the player who came to training camp in December in the best shape and turned in the most consistent season of anyone on the team, is on the short list of players under contract for next season. The list includes Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter, Brendan Haywood, Brandan Wright (team option), Kalenna Abuzuike, Rodrigue Beaubois and Dominique Jones.

Is that concerning for the 13-year vet?

"I don't know. This is a business, it's a business first. I look at it like that, that's what it is," Marion said. "I know that, I've adjusted to that throughout my career. That's what you have got to take it as first, everything else comes second. It's a business first. It means you've got to have that mindset going into, you know that, that's what you've got to take it as."

DALLAS -- Last week Charles Barkley joined ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Galloway & Co. and said adding Deron Williams alone to complement Dirk Nowitzki won't be enough to return the Dallas Mavericks among the Western Conference contenders.

Barkley said Nowitzki needs a big man in the middle.

After the Mavs went from championship to swept Saturday at the hands of the young Oklahoma City Thunder, Jason Terry, who might not be back with the team after eight seasons, said Nowitzki has plenty left in the tank, but that the Mavs must get him interior help.

"Dirk's so wonderfully amazing with his ability to play the game at high level night in and night out with the defenses that he faces," Terry said. "But, again, for Dirk to be successful and go to where we went to last year he has to have an active big to play alongside him. He has to. And he knows it. So, if he's involved in any kind of decisions I know that's what he's going to be looking for."

The comments by Barkley and Terry certainly sound like indictments of Mavs starting center Brendan Haywood, who had a miserable series and still has three guaranteed years and some $28 million remaining on his contract.

Haywood played a series-high 25 minutes, most of which came after Thunder center Kendrick Perkins left in the first quarter with a right hip strain. Yet, the 7-foot Haywood could only muster four points and four rebounds. He played a total of 36 minutes in the first three games and was benched to start the second half in Games 2 and 3.

In Game 4, the Mavs' interior defense was laughable, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Thunder scored 20 of their 35 points in the paint with the majority coming from James Harden. He drove past Dallas' guards at will and met little resistance as he attacked the lane and then the rim for 15 fourth-quarter points. He scored one fewer point in the quarter than the entire Mavs team.

Haywood played just the first 4:33 of the fourth quarter, long enough for Harden to put in six points and to be whistled for an offensive foul away from the ball. Ian Mahinmi finished out the game with little effectiveness on the defensive end to slow Harden. Mahinmi, who will become a free agent, did have 10 points and five rebounds in 14 minutes.

Because of his uninspired play during this brief series, the man who backed up Tyson Chandler last season and played just 25 minutes in the NBA Finals because of a hip injury sustained in Game 2 could fall victim to the amnesty clause this summer. It would allow the Mavs to rid their books of Haywood's remaining contract heading into next season. Shawn Marion is also a candidate for the amnesty clause, but the forward's value, particularly on the defensive end this season, can not be understated.

Although Carlisle twice went to Mahinmi to start the second half, the coach kept Haywood in the starting lineup all four games. It's uncertain at the moment if Haywood will be back in the starting lineup next season -- or back at all.

Here's three more things to consider as the Mavs head into a long offseason:

1. Half man, half awful: Vince Carter certainly had some moments this season and he even delivered a vintage jam in Game 4. But all in all, the Carter experiment didn't pan out. He had an abysmal series shooting the basketball. He made 3-of-10 shots in Game 4 and for the series he made 12-of-41 shots (29.3 percent). Carter did make 2-of-3 buckets from beyond the arc on Saturday, but he was 3-of-10 for the series. Carter is likely one of the few players that will return next season. He's under contract for the next two seasons.

2. Quiet Delonte West: He certainly provided Mavs fans with some entertaining play and antics, both on and off the court, this season, but his playoff series didn't leave much of a mark. West came off the bench for the first time in the series in Game 4 and had just two points and three assists in 18 minutes. West endured the unfortunate dislocation and fracture of his right ring finger in February and missed six weeks. As a free-agent-to-be, West said he hopes he's proven to the league that he's trustworthy of signing a multi-year deal. If that is the case, he will likely be signing somewhere other than Dallas.

3. What's next for Roddy B?: Rodrigue Beaubois played a grand total of 12 minutes in the four-game sweep. He got into Game 2 as something of an emergency sub when the Mavs fell behind by 16 points in the second quarter. It's been another rough season for third-year guard after coming back from a second foot surgery last summer. He said he can't be sure he'll be back with the Mavs -- he could be trade bait to create cap room if needed -- but Beaubois is excited to be healthy for the first time in three summers and capable of working out and working on his game. With the possibility that Terry, Jason Kidd and West won't be back, there could be real opportunity for Beaubois if the Mavs still believe he can be a contributor to the future of the franchise.

DALLAS -- If guard Jason Terry has played his final game with the Dallas Mavericks, he will leave feeling he and the remaining members of the championship team didn't get a fair shot to repeat.

Terry was the most vocal Mavs player throughout the season regarding owner Mark Cuban's decision not to re-sign key free agents from last season's championship team because of changes to the collective bargaining agreement. After being swept out of the first round by the rising Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, Terry, a free-agent-to-be for the first time in his career, said the personnel on this team wasn't good enough to contend.

"Every year I’ve been on the Mavericks team and we’ve had a realistic chance, it’s because of the personnel," Terry said. "Look at your personnel and what they surround you with, your core nucleus, and you can see if you have a realistic shot. For us, it was a long shot. Nobody’s going to downplay that at all. If you look at our roster to a man, it was a long shot this year. But we still made the playoffs, but we just didn’t have enough."

Terry said Cuban knows that this team didn't have a fighting chance to contend.

"Yeah, he knows it, the city knows, we all know it as players," Terry said. "But with the team we have, the nucleus we have, the core group of guys, we feel like we can beat anybody, that’s just us as competitors. But, again, you have to have the personnel. You have to have the personnel to get it done."

Cuban maintained from early in the season to as recently as right before the playoffs that this team was better than the one that bulldozed through the Trail Blazers, Lakers, Thunder and Heat to win the franchise's first title in 31 seasons. Cuban, citing changes to the CBA that focused his team-building strategy on cap space for the coming summer, did not bring back defensive-minded center and team leader Tyson Chandler, penetrating point guard J.J. Barea and gritty defender and 3-point shooter DeShawn Stevenson, among others.

Prior to Saturday's Game 4, Cuban said he had no regrets about not bringing back the title team and said he fielded the best possible team he could given the constraints of the new CBA.

The Mavs' key acquisitions included Vince Carter in the twilight of his career and Lamar Odom, whose emotional baggage got the best of him and forced Cuban to kick him off the team.

Asked if he believed last year's title team would have had a legitimate shot to repeat if left intact, Terry initially said he didn't know before quickly changing his tune.

"I do. Why not?" Terry said. "That’s the team I wanted, so I believe we’d be just as good as anybody. But you can hope and wish and think about that all you want, but the reality of it is the season’s over and we’ve got the future to look forward to. Thank God for my health and my family."

Terry received support from longtime teammate Dirk Nowitzki after the game. Nowitzki has mostly toed the company line when it came to talking about not bringing back the team.

“Knowing as players, we were for sure disappointed in December in free agency when we didn’t get the same team back,” Nowitzki said. “That’s for sure.”

Now Terry, after eight seasons in Dallas, and the Mavs head toward a crossroads this summer. Terry, 34, will likely be seeking a new home to end his career as the Mavs face an overhaul of the roster and their most uncertain future in Cuban's dozen years as owner.

"You know we like to make changes year-in and year-out, but not a complete overhaul," Terry said. "That’s what this is going to be, an entire different ballclub I would expect. But, the formula is there, the formula’s there. We set the bar very high last year with what we did and what we accomplished. They know the formula and it’s on them to put it back together."

DALLAS -- If you were stunned by this offensive stinker, you must not have watched the Mavs much this season.

This has been a bad offensive team since the day the defending champions -- might as well use that term while we can -- reported to the American Airlines Center for an abbreviated training camp.

Dallas’ decision makers anticipated that it would be a difficult process to fit in a few significant new pieces without much practice time, but the hope was that the Mavs would mesh throughout the course of this lockout-condensed season and be prepared to peak in the playoffs.

Pfft.

With the season on the line, the Mavs managed to come up with one of their worst offensive showings, shooting 34.2 percent from the floor in Thursday’s 95-79 loss that put Dallas on the verge of being swept by the Thunder.

“Just picked a bad time to really put a stinker out there,” said Dirk Nowitzki, who had 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. “Nobody really had a good game for us. They took it to us on the other end. We picked a tough time to really get nothing going on the offensive end.”

That’s happened a heck of a lot this season, which is why the Mavs ranked 22nd among NBA teams in offensive efficiency. To put that in perspective, the Boston Celtics are the only playoff team that was less efficient offensively than the Mavs.

The versatile pieces that Mark Cuban and Co. expected to make Dallas a more dynamic offensive team haven’t panned out. Lamar Odom provided plenty of drama and precious little production. Vince Carter faded after the All-Star break and has really struggled in this series, making only nine of 31 shots from the floor.

The Mavs’ big guns have had off seasons by their standards. Nowitzki’s numbers are his worst since his second season in Dallas, before the Mavs’ run of a dozen playoff appearances in a row. Jason Terry’s stats are his worst in his eight-season Dallas tenure.

When one of those guys struggles, it’s tough for the Mavs to win. When they’re both off, it’s bound to get ugly.

That was the case in Game 3, when Nowitzki was bad and Terry was worse (11 points, 3-of-10 shooting, four turnovers).

“They played great defense all night long on Dirk and myself,” Terry said. “We’ve got to find a way. I think our offensive strategy right now is pretty much predicated on pass the ball around and see what happens. I don’t think that’s a good strategy for us.”

He’ll get no argument from coach Rick Carlisle: “I’ve got to do a better job of helping those guys. That’s something I really take responsibility for.”

Carlisle said something about watching film and trying to get this fixed. The truth is it’s too late for this season, and there’s a good chance Terry is gone next year.

If the Mavs want to get back to being a good offensive team, they better catch their big fish in the free-agency market.

For the sake of Dallas’ recruiting efforts, let’s hope Deron Williams was too busy to watch Game 3.

When the Mavs signed Vince Carter, they viewed him as the kind of aging offensive player who still had enough skills to help them win a playoff game - or series. You know, kind of like Peja Stojakovic last season against the Lakers.

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Well, for a quarter it looked like Carter might be able to provide that kind of spark against Oklahoma City.

He scored seven points in the first quarter, including a Vinsanity flashback - he drove through the lane and powered home a one-handed dunk in traffic - and a corner three with nine seconds left in the quarter.

The spurt ended a stretch of seven consecutive points that pulled the Mavs within 32-26, entering the second quarter.

He didn’t score again.

Carter finished two of eight from the field in 27 minutes in Dallas' 95-79 loss.

We shouldn’t really be surprised.

The Mavs have eight players in their 30s, and it showed during Game 3 and the season. Their bodies didn’t respond to the NBA’s compact schedule - 66 games in 123 days - and they haven’t been able to get all of their older guys playing well at the same time in the playoffs.

That’s what happens to older players. They lose the consistency that made them stars in their prime. They can dominate for spurts as Carter did for a few minutes in Game 3, but it’s difficult for them to maintain that high level of performance for a game or a series.

Here are three more areas of interest heading into Friday:

Three-headed center: Once again, the Mavs received virtually nothing from the center position and it played a role in their demise. Brendan Haywood, Ian Mahinmi and Brandan Wright combined to score nine points and grab eight rebounds in 30 minutes, but had no positive impact on the game. Haywood, the starting center, played just seven minutes.

Jason Kidd: The NBA's quintessential point guard is a facilitator by nature, but the Mavs’ stagnant offense turned him into a shooter in Game 3. That’s never, ever a good sign. Kidd, who made just four of 18 shots in the series’ first two games, finished second on the team with 12 points, while taking a season-high 12 shots. Kidd made two of his six three-point attempts. When Kidd is that involved in shooting and scoring, the Mavs rarely win.

Jason Terry has no impact: After three games, Jason Terry has had one great half, and that occurred in Game 1. He’s been a non-factor in the other five halves of this series. Terry scored 11 points on three of 12 shooting with six assists and three rebounds, but Mark Cuban pays him to score. Without his scoring, the Mavs had no chance.

DALLAS – For the most part, the Mavericks have done a decent job executing their defensive strategy on Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.

He’s lit them up anyway, averaging 28.5 points on 52.3 percent shooting in the first two games of this series.

The question now is whether the Mavs make significant strategic adjustments or just hope Westbrook stops making so many midrange jump shots.

According to NBA.com’s advanced statistics, Westbrook is 14-of-26 on midrange jumpers in the series and only 5-of-11 on shots from inside the restricted area. By comparison, Westbrook shot 41.4 percent from midrange and 58.6 percent from inside the restricted area during the regular season, attempting virtually the same amount of shots from the two zones.

“You’ve got to pick your poison,” said Delonte West, who has started both games on Westbrook. “He’s got an explosive first step. He’s not an All-Star for no reason. Based on the past, you can live with him shooting contested jump shots. What you don’t want to do is open up the lane and give him driving lanes where he can score, pass, get fouled and get some momentum plays.

“I’ll guess we’ll live and die with contested jump shots.”

The problem is it’s tough for a guard like West or Jason Kidd to contest Westbrook’s shot because the freakishly athletic 23-year-old gets up so high. As expected, coach Rick Carlisle is playing any potential adjustments close to the vest, but he acknowledges that one possibility is using 6-foot-7 defensive stopper Shawn Marion on Westbrook more often.

That, of course, would open up a whole other set of problems with NBA scoring leader Kevin Durant, who the Mavs have held to 34.1 percent shooting in the series with Marion doing most of the dirty work.

Would Vince Carter start instead of West and defend Durant? Stick with the same lineup and ask Kidd to guard a superstar who is listed at 5 inches taller and 16 years younger?

“We’ve got to find a way to make him a little more uncomfortable,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “He’s just dribbling up and raising up at the foul line. There’s nothing you can do, because if you guard him with smaller guys – with Kidd or West – he jumps like 40 inches on his shot and you can’t touch it. He just raises up over them and gets it in.

“Yeah, it’s tough. But we’ve got to do a better job of making him a little uncomfortable.”

And hope Westbrook reverts to form from midrange.

DALLAS -- Vince Carter has looked for his shot; he just hasn't made many of them. Coach Rick Carlisle told him to keep looking.

"He's just got to stay aggressive," Carlisle said. "In Game 1 he drove the ball very aggressively. Game 2 he didn't get it into the paint as much, but those opportunities have to be there for guys to drive. We don't want him to just run over a guy just because, hey, it's time to drive the ball because you're in a playoff series. He's got to read the situations that are there, but we want to keep the ball moving so we get chances to attack them."

Carter is 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from the floor in the series, and 0-of-4 on 3-pointers. The cold snap comes on the heels of a significant offensive surge to close the regular season. In the final five games, Carter averaged 16.2 points on 25-of-50 shooting. The Mavs could use as a special kind of night out of Carter the way the Thunder benefited in Game 1 from Serge Ibaka's season-high 22 points and Derek Fisher's 5-of-6 shooting in Game 2.

"That always helps," Carter said of a big night from an unexpected source. "I still think everybody needs just to play their game and be who they are and we need that. I think we've shown we've done well in that aspect, but at the same time when you can get somebody to play a phenomenal game of basketball and have a phenomenal night, that's going to help. So, in other words, every player should just come ready to give us something special.

"I don't think we should put in our mind, oh somebody has to come out there; no, come out there and play your game, but we could definitely use something special from anyone."

It's only two games and with a little late-game luck the Dallas Mavericks' 0-2 hole might have been a 2-0 cushion with the series shifting to Dallas for Thursday's Game 3.

Late-game luck isn't the only difference in a postseason rematch with the Oklahoma City Thunder that threatens to make the Mavs the first defending champs since the 2007 Miami Heat to go down in the first round. Dallas needs more of the unexpected, more of what the Thunder have received to take control of the series.

The unexpected?

Serge Ibaka's 22 points in Game 1 was a season high. The last time he scored 20 in a game? Try Jan. 27.

Derek Fisher's 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in Game 2 -- after being invisible in Game 1 -- was his most efficient outing in 22 games with Oklahoma City and it tied his second-highest point total.

Kendrick Perkins' 4-of-5 shooting in Game 2 was the first time he had done that since Feb. 22, and he hadn't topped the 13 points he scored since March 25 with 16, his only game of the season with more than 13. Keep in mind that OKC's two wins have come by a total of four points.

The unexpected.

"They’ve gotten better, no doubt about that," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said, comparing this Thunder team to the won Dallas disposed of in five games in last year's Western Conference finals. "You've got to give them credit for the plays they made in this series and for the year that they’ve had. At the same time, we’re right there and we've got to make the plays coming back home."

The Mavs have received nothing out of the ordinary. Remember the championship run when a different Mavs player seemed to step up every night with something different? Whether it was Corey Brewer for eight minutes against the Lakers, or J.J. Barea putting up consecutive 20-point games -- one against the Thunder -- or DeShawn Stevenson twice dropping three 3-pointers in the Finals or Peja Stojakovic scoring 21, 21 and 15 points in the opening two series, it's the unexpected performances that carry teams to unexpected results.

The Mavs will need to get some punch-quiet sources on their home floor over the next two games to stay alive.

The most likely candidate for a breakout is Vince Carter. He's 7-of-23 from the floor. Delonte West had 13 points in Game 2 but is 7-of-17 from the floor and has yet to make a dent with the type of feisty defense he's known for, that the Mavs are counting on. Starting center Brendan Haywood has seven rebounds and two blocked shots in 30 minutes and was benched to start the second half of Game 2.

Fan favorite Brandan Wright has so far shown that the playoff pressure might be too big in his first postseason. In logging less than 13 total minutes, he hasn't come close to one of his patented dunks and had a case of butterfingers in five awful minutes in Game 2.

If the Mavs are going to survive, the expected performances from Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion that have enabled Dallas to have a chance late must be met by unexpected ones.

Just ask the Thunder.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- At some point admissions just have to be made. And after two poor shooting games to start the playoffs, there's no getting around the fact that the Mavericks are just a mediocre shooting team.

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Have been all season. Nothing has changed.

Dallas ranked 19th in the league in field-goal percentage during the regular season at 44.3 percent, the lowest shooting percentage among the Western Conference playoff teams. The Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers were the only playoff teams with a lower percentage.

In this first-round series, shooting percentages have held to regular-season form. The Oklahoma City Thunder, which ranked third in the NBA in shooting percentage at 47.1 percent, are shooting 46.6 in the two games, despite Kevin Durant struggling at 15-of-44. The Mavs are at 42.7 percent -- and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc after Monday's 5-of-23 brick-fest.

"We had some great looks that normally go down for us," Jason Kidd said.

That's been the refrain all season. But it simply hasn't happened.

Still, the Mavs are so close to having this series tied, if not up 2-0. Chalk up the 0-2 hole to horrible fourth-quarter shooting and late-game execution. In Game 1, Dallas was 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from the floor in the final quarter. Dirk Nowitzki's bucket at the 2:31 mark for a 94-87 lead would be their last.

In Game 2, Vince Carter's bank shot with 2:18 left for a 97-96 lead would again be Dallas' last of the quarter with the exception of Jason Terry's uncontested layup with 20 seconds left and the Thunder protecting a three-point lead.

In both games, the Mavs are 14-of-40 (35 percent) in the fourth quarter with six turnovers.

And that's simply not going to cut it.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three of Kevin Durant's four assists went to Serge Ibaka for dunks. Russell Westbrook added a dish for an Ibaka dunk, too.

Dribble penetrations led to the Mavericks' bigs being forced to help and leaving the 6-foot-10 Ibaka to catch and throw down. Of his season-high 22 points in Oklahoma City's Game 1, 12 came via the dunk.

"That's just because of the breakdown at the beginning of the play," said Mavs guard Jason Kidd. "We've got to limit our mistakes at the beginning because that's where he did get a lot of the finishes is because of the breakdown at the beginning. So if we can limit that then hopefully he doesn't get as many in Game 1."

It puts a lot of pressure on the Mavs' defenders, all at least 10 years older than OKC's three playmakers and not as quick -- with the exception of Delonte West -- to stay in front of their man and not allow penetration into the lane. Once Durant, Westbrook or James Harden get by their man, it forces the Mavs' forwards or center to come off Ibaka to prevent the layup.

Delonte West said after Monday morning's shootaround that he is back to full strength after playing through Game 1 with a stomach bug that sapped his energy. So he should be able to give Westbrook (28 points, five assists in Game 1) a better fight. Kidd, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion will have to do a better job keeping the Thunder out on the perimeter and not in the paint.

"It's help defense and we just have to stay in front our man from the beginning," Carter said.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Delonte West said he thought only briefly about not playing in tonight's Game 1 against the Oklahoma City Thunder while being knocked down by a stomach bug Friday night and Saturday morning.

"Of course, when I was lying on the bathroom floor I was thinking that," West said. "But, no, not at all. I ain’t missing no playoff game. You’re going to have to drag me off the floor."

West missed the morning shootaround, but he was at his locker for pregame, taping his ankles and slowly trying to get through a grilled chicken breast, the first food he's consumed since Friday evening.

He'll need high energy tonight going up against OKC point guard Russell Westbrook, as well as James Harden. But West suggested their day won't be a piece of cake either.

"Everybody in this league ties their shoes up just like me, you know what I mean?" West said. "They got an important defensive role tonight."

Having West in the lineup is critical for Dallas. At 28, he's the spring chicken on the team and it alleviates the Mavs from pairing Jason Kidd, 39, and Vince Carter, 35, together in the backcourt.

So, what did West think caused his illness?

"Oysters," he said.

That was West's dinner prior to Thursday's regular-season finale at Atlanta.

"I think I got the last of it out," West assured.

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