Easy to see winning formula for Dallas Mavericks

WASHINGTON – They say the NBA season is a marathon, which means the Mavericks have run a half marathon.

Their legs got heavy along about mile 11 or 12, but they seem to have hit the midpoint of the season with a little more pep in their step and determination in their heart.

Their resolve to repeat their 27-14 first half, or maybe even improve on it, is stronger than ever, in part because they have shown to everybody (mostly themselves) how they must play to be competitive with the best teams in the league.

In a rampaging second half against Boston on Monday, the path to greatness was clearer than ever.

"The ball wasn't sticking in everybody's hand," Shawn Marion said. "When that happens, it's always easier. When it sticks, you end up ball-watching."

With Jason Kidd running the show, it seems impossible that the Mavericks could get stagnant offensively. But it happens. The ball gets stuck on one side of the court and the opposing defense doesn't have to break a sweat to make sure the Mavericks shoot a contested shot.

"Anybody on this team can have a big night," Erick Dampier said. "But the only thing for us is to win games. The rest of that stuff doesn't even matter. We have to share the ball and have fun together. We can't have four guys giving 100 percent and four or five guys not giving 100 percent. As long as we play hard and help each other out, we're a totally different team."

Sounds simple enough, but as the Mavericks showed in the last 10 days, it's not that simple.

They lost three of four before the comeback win at Boston because they lacked defensive grit and couldn't compensate because the offense was off kilter.

"You can say defense wins games, but you have to score points, too," Dampier said. "We can't be shooting jump shots every night. At some point, we got to take the ball to the basket and get easy buckets, layups or fouls. That's going to put pressure on their defense."

Tonight, it's hump day on this five-game road trip. It's the middle game of the journey and one that's likely to make or break a winning road trip that started with the dreadful loss in Toronto.

One uplifting win won't mean much if the Mavericks follow it poorly.

Not so soft: The Mavericks have forever fought the perception of softness, but coach Rick Carlisle is adamant that they are overcoming that tag.

"We want to get up and down the floor, but we don't want to be willy-nilly about it," he said. "We have a physical team. We start a 6-7 guard [Josh Howard], a 6-8 small forward [Shawn Marion], and our point guard is big [Jason Kidd]. And we have 7-footers at the big spots. We have to play physical."

Traveling by train: It will seem like old times to the older members of the Mavericks' staff over the next few days as the team rides the rails between games.

They will use a chartered train to get from Washington to Philadelphia to New York for the rest of the trip.

The players, of course, have never known anything but the private plane between games. But some of the coaches can remember the days when trains were common to travel between East Coast cities.

MAVERICKS' FIRST HALF IN REVIEW

Best win: at Lakers, 94-80, Oct. 30. It was a long time ago, but that show of force was no fluke.

Worst loss: vs. Warriors, 111-103, Nov. 24. Golden State needed just six healthy players to rough up the Mavs.

Biggest surprise: Their 14-7 road record is the best in the Western Conference. Not bad for a team that was 18-23 on the road last season.

Second-biggest surprise: Jason Terry is shooting 34 percent from 3-point range. He's 38 percent for his career, so you have to figure he's due for a streak.

MVP: Dirk Nowitzki. OK, so it's not a shocker. But he's putting up MVP numbers on a team that has more talent than he used to play with.

Longest winning streak: 5, twice (more recently, Dec. 8-16).

Longest losing streak: 2, twice (more recently, Jan. 9-13).