K.I.S.S.

That's the acronym for Keep It Simple Stupid and you can count Rick Carlisle as one of the practitioners. In his pre-game meeting with the press, Carlisle was asked a variety of questions but on five occasions, he had the same answer. "We've just got to get a win," he said.

With the Mavericks at 2-6, no one could argue with that.

-- Jan Hubbard