--Coach Rick Carlisle is having a difficult time forming a consistent rotation because there are simply too many fluctuating variables among the team's bevy of swingmen.
"I'd like for us to settle into something consistent," Carlisle said. "But we're not there." Antoine Wright opened the season as the starter at shooting guard, but on Sunday he sat through his second "Did Not Play -- Coach's Decision."
Gerald Green's minutes have been sporadic and his play exciting but erratic. Case in point: Sunday, he started in place of the injured Josh Howard, played 35 minutes and scored 11 points in the first half but just two the rest of the way.
Jerry Stackhouse broke out of a shooting funk (16.7 percent through the first five games) with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting in less than 24 minutes.
Playing time will be even tougher to secure soon when Devean George returns from a left hand injury.
"To evaluate everything completely, that's part of it," Carlisle said of George's return. "Coming in we were banking on the fact that we had him against (Ron) Artest, LeBron (James), Carmelo (Anthony), Kobe (Bryant), and so it's been a luxury that we haven't had."
--Defensive breakdowns have put the Mavericks at a severe disadvantage at the free throw line. They're consistently putting teams in the bonus early on, especially in the first quarter, while not forcing the action offensively, leaving one of the best foul-shooting teams in the league near the bottom in free throw attempts per game.
The Mavs entered Sunday's game against the Clippers ranked 27th in the league in attempts at just over 20 a game. Denver shot 40 against Dallas. The Mavs shot 23 on Sunday, the same number as the Clippers, who entered the game near the bottom of the league in free-throw differential.
"We were never a volume free throw shooting team -- we all know that," Dirk Nowitzki said. "But, defensively we've just got to do a better job defending our guy and not breaking down so many times. If you're getting broken down all the time, it puts our big guys in foul trouble."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "The fans pay a lot of money for their ticket, and they want to see us play hard and leave it all on the floor. You know, you can lose tough games when you fight. They see you left it all out there. Then they can't boo. If we fall short, we fall short. But it can't be because of effort." -- Dirk Nowitzki, on facing the Lakers on Tuesday at home, where the Mavs are 0-2 this season.
