What goes up ...

The Mavericks had a little fun with hotel elevators today, although it wasn't all that fun while it was happening.

At their team hotel, as the players started to head back to their rooms after the team brunch, eight of them piled into one elevator. As fate would have it, one of the hotel elevator technicians was on the car, too.

Good thing. When the door shut, the car abruptly dropped a couple of feet. According to the players, everybody remained mostly calm. But they couldn't figure out how to get the door open again. Luckily, they were only on the second floor.

After about 20 minutes, equipment manager Al Whitley, security director Jim Colleran and a hotel employee wedged open the door and starte pulling players up to second-floor level.

With any luck, that's not an omen as to what might happen tonight in the game.

--Eddie Sefko