Art Garcia | Mavs.com

Posted: March 23, 2008

This one hurts in more ways than one. The Mavericks not only lost their third in a row to San Antonio and overall, but Dirk Nowitzki went down with a lower leg injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.

San Antonio rallied from 12 points down to prevail 88-81 before an Easter Sunday sellout crowd of 20,411 at American Airlines Center. Nowitzki’s status is uncertain and the reigning MVP will be re-evaluated Monday.

Nowitzki’s health is just another concern thrown on top of the pile for the Mavs, who dropped to 44-26 and 0-3 on the current four-game homestand. Dallas returned home after five straight wins only to fall to the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs in succession.

“We’ve got to find a way to win some games,” said Jerry Stackhouse, the team’s leading scorer with 19. “We played three good teams and we were doing some good things during the course of the games. We just haven’t been able to close it out.

“Obviously it was a blow losing Dirk there for the fourth quarter, but I thought we still competed and had some opportunities that just didn’t go our way. We had a pretty good handle on the game there for a while and then all of a sudden, they make a couple shots here, a couple shots there and got back in the game and a couple loose balls.”

Before Nowitzki went down, the Mavs seemed in position to snap the skid. Buoyed by their defense, Dallas’ lead reached a dozen on a couple of occasions – the last at 54-42 midway through the third period. As the Spurs turned up their defensive intensity, the Mavs got away from attacking the basket.

“Don’t settle for jump shots,” Josh Howard said. “Coach has been preaching that all year. We need to stay aggressive. I think those two things are the main focus right now.”

San Antonio took its first lead of the second half on the sequence leading to Nowitzki’s injury. Racing back to contest a fastbreak layup, Nowitzki blocked Ime Udoka’s layup before crashing to the floor under the reserve San Antonio forward.

Nowitzki’s left leg buckled and he remained on the floor for several minutes being attended to by trainer Casey Smith and team doctor Tarek Souryal. Juwan Howard and Malik Allen helped Nowitzki off the court, but Nowitzki did walk into the X-ray room under his own power.

The Mavs played the last 15:18 without Nowitzki, their leading scorer and rebounder. San Antonio had control after finishing the third quarter with a 23-4 spurt for a 65-58 lead. Stackhouse and Avery Johnson were both assessed technicals in the final seconds of the third.

The Mavs had their chances late, pulling within 82-78 in the final minute. Jason Terry had a jumper to cut the lead to two, but it came off long and San Antonio closed the win out at the line and clinched the season series 3-1. Again, the Mavs were right there, but didn’t have enough to get over the hump.

“Right now, it’s about extra effort, extra hustle plays,” Stackhouse said. “We’re not getting those balls and the other team is. That’s happened pretty much all week.

“We’ve got to put a little more into it. I don’t think that anybody’s not giving effort, I’m not saying that, but sometimes you have to find inside you to give that little extra effort on rebounds, loose balls. That’s what it’s coming down to right now.”

Jason Kidd added: “We’re right there. It’s not the time for us to let go of the rope.”

The Mavs are 0-8 against teams with winning records since Jason Kidd’s arrival. The psychological aspects of that stat record are one thing to deal with. Just as pressing is the playoff situation. The Mavs are tied in the loss column with eighth-place Golden State.

“Different seasons bring on different challenges,” Johnson said. “This is a challenging period for us. But there is no surrender, there is no withdrawal, there is no backing up. We’ve got to meet it head on.

“It definitely is a challenge. I feel we’re up for it. But we’re going to have to look at some things, especially offensively, to get that ball to the basket and get the ball in the basket.”

Sixth man Manu Ginobili, part of a third-quarter fracas with Stackhouse, led the Spurs with 26 points. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker combined for only 32, and the Spurs only shot 33 percent.

“Here’s a game when Parker goes 4-21 and Duncan goes 7-21,” Johnson said. “Do the math. We would expect to win that game. Our opponent shoots 33 percent from the field, scores 88 points. Obviously, they beat us on offensive boards.

“But we expect to win those games. Right now, we can’t score at a higher enough clip like we need to. We definitely just can’t score at the right time.”