Mavericks should have been dead and buried

The Mavericks go into halftime of tonight’s game
trailing 49-44.
 
By all rights, they should be down by twice that much. Or
more.
 
They had six turnovers and shot 5-of-25 in the first quarter
and somehow they have managed to stay within striking distance of the Suns
throughout the first half. There’s no real explanation. Dirk Nowitzki had
nine points and no other Maverick had more than six.
 
The Suns aren’t scoring much, at least not since a
26-point first quarter. But they are doing enough to stay in front of the
offensively challenged Mavericks.
 
This game is an assault on the senses. Of course, a lot of
playoff games are, too.
 
What the Mavericks have going for them is that the can’t
play much worse than they did in the first half. Remember, the Suns are not
renowned as a great defensive team, so there’s no reason to expect the
Mavericks to continue to shoot 32.6 percent from the field like they have in
the first 24 minutes.
 
This game bears a strong resemblance to last night’s
win at Utah.
 
It may or may not turn out that way for them, but they have
every opportunity to make it happen because they got out of a terrible half
without much damage.
 
Eddie Sefko