Mavericks Vs. Cavaliers: Dallas Extends Losing Streak To Three Games

The Dallas Mavericks are 14-11 on the season and midway through the season Rick Carlisle's team is still figuring out how to regain their championship flair. One point of concern that has flared up is their ability to rebound, as the loss of Tyson Chandler to the Mavs frontcourt could prove to be a bigger void than they initially realized. The good folks at Mavs Moneyball did an excellent job summarizing their rebounding woes:

Rebounding: At the early stages of the season, the Mavs were the second best defensive rebounding team in terms of percentages and they dropped all their way back to their current rank, 12th. Offensive rebounding was never one of the Mavericks strength, but it looked like the departure of Tyson Chandler didn't leave that much of a hole in that area. Wrong? During the first 14 games, the Mavs only had to games in the 60s in terms of DRB%, but failed to rebound 70% of the opponents misses in 6 of the last 11. This clearly leads back to a lack of effort. Yesterday Anderson Varejao grabbed twice as much rebounds as the best player on the Mavs roster in that regard. Varejao is one of the best rebounders in the league, but this is simply off the chart.

SB Nation's Tom Ziller has the Mavericks ranked No. 13 in this week's NBA Power Rankings, should they be rankings that high, low or good where they are?

For more insights and analysis on the Mavericks check out SB Nation blog Mavs Moneyball. For more news on the NBA check out the SB Nation NBA hub page.

The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 91-88 on Saturday night giving them a three-game losing streak in the process. Some will say that the Mavericks were just flat, or that a young upstart Cavaliers team just beat them to the punch or that injuries are the bigger issue.

There's no shame in losing to Oklahoma City and Indiana, two playoff teams from a year ago who are even better than last year. However, losing to a team like Cleveland can be concerning. Is Cleveland more than just an upstart young team, or is Dallas just "going through the motions" while looking forward to the next few seasons where free agency could boost their profile significantly?

I think I just went on a tangent (just something to keep in mind, with Deron Williams and Dwight Howard becoming available at the end of the season) but for now check out Dirk talking about the three-game losing streak:

(3 Days off, 3 Game Losing streak) - "Now, we’ve got to sit on this one. We have a day off tomorrow and we’ve got to sit on this one for three days. You know, it is what it is. If we get our point guard back pretty soon, I think we could definitely use him. But we’ve got to put in some work Monday and Tuesday. Enjoy this day off tomorrow as much as we can, get away a little bit and then get some good work in and work on the stuff we need to work on and then travel to Denver. And we know Denver is a great team, especially at home. They run, they're great in transition, so we've got our hands full there on Wednesday." -- Dirk Nowitzki

The Mavericks won't play again until Wednesday as they prepare to face the Denver Nuggets on the road.

For more insights and analysis on the Mavericks check out SB Nation blog Mavs Moneyball. For more news on the NBA check out the SB Nation NBA hub page.

Dirk Nowitzki's 24 points were not enough to keep the Dallas Mavericks from losing their third straight game as they lost 91-88 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Mavericks had an eight point lead at halftime, but the Cavaliers came out of the halftime a new team and erased that eight point lead in just six minutes, and then continued their scoring spree to take a six point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks did come back in the fourth quarter to make this a compelling game as they tied the game at 70 just two minutes into the fourth quarter. In the end it was rookie Kyrie Irving who secured the game by making a layup with 15 seconds left to put the Cavaliers up 91-88.

Dallas had two opportunities to send the game to overtime, but Jason Terry and Brandan Wright both missed their three-point attempts. This loss gives the Mavericks their third loss in a row and only the second time that they had a three-game losing streak, the other was at the beginning of the season when the Mavericks started 0-3.

The Dallas Mavericks are on track to end their two-game losing stream as they lead the Cleveland Cavaliers 51-43 at the half. Dirk Nowitzki is again leading the way for the Mavericks with 15 points at and has made all five of his shots from the field including a three-point shot, plus he is a perfect four for four from the free throw line. Brendan Haywood is the other Dallas player in double figures with 10 points, and as a team the Mavericks are shooting a blistering 58 percent from the field.