DeShawn Stevenson feels me The Mavericks stumbled for a third straight game sans Nowitzki, 99-87, to the Milwaukee Bucks. Losing to the Bucks is nothing to sneeze at, but going without Dirk, Shawn Marion and Caron Butler is very worrisome. Butler hurt his knee in the first quarter. No idea on the severity of the injury.
Needless to say, the Mavericks stink without Nowitzki and his team's play without him proves just how valuable he is to his team.
However, without Marion and Butler, they are barely worthy of a spot in the NBA. The drop off between their best player (Nowitzki) and their second-best player (Butler) is vast. The drop off from the best to the fourth best is astonishing.
Brendan Haywood is a joke. J.J. Barea, although he tries harder than anyone, is limited. Jason Kidd's about three steps behind the rest of the league. Jason Terry is having probably his worst shooting slump of his Mavericks career. Tyson Chandler is no where near a lead dog.
This simply is a bad team with an otherworldly individual player.
What's worse, they're falling further and further behind in the Southwest Division. The Spurs are still cruising and now hold a 4.5 game lead that will probably prove insurmountable.
Need to get healthy, quickly.
