Is it a matter of being very good or others being very bad?

It's only the end of the first quarter and the Mavericks are already coasting. The Pacers started out like they wanted to make this a decent basketball game and trailed at one point only 11-8.

But a 17-3 Dallas run made it ugly. Indiana went through a stretch of making only 1-of-12 shots from the field. Good defense or putrid offense?

After one, Dallas leads 31-17 and it looks like the Mavericks will have a lot of garbage time tonight.

The Mavericks have been beating up on lousy competition and looks like that will continue.

And then there is Sunday in MIami.

-- Jan Hubbard