A county job

The final embrace: Both power forwards claimed they were fouled on this play

I'm not here to talk comeback. I'm here to talk mismanagement. And a fourth quarter.

As much as the comeback made the hair on my neck stand on end, it doesn't mean anything.

What does mean something is the fourth quarter when everything -- the game, the season, careers -- was on the line.

Who was the last line of defense? What warriors would be put in the position to fight for this team's chance to play another day this season?

Jason Kidd. Jason Terry. Shawn Marion. Dirk Nowitzki. Brendan Haywood.

Who worked their ass off, attacked, scraped, fought, grabbed, leapt and wrangled to get back in the game before half and in the third quarter?

Jason Kidd. Roddy Beaubois. Caron Butler. Dirk Nowitzki. Erick Dampier.

I understand resting players. Fortunately for Butler, Beaubois and Dampier, they have a solid five months or so to rest. Hopefully, they'll be ready to play in October after the Dallas Mavericks were bounced from the NBA Playoffs 97-87 by the San Antonio Spurs.

Yes. Rick Carlisle is smarter than all of this. Why else would Mark Cuban pay him to make important decisions and not me and you? Carlisle knows best. Sure.

I'd like to believe that. I don't any more. Over the past six games, Carlisle failed to find a rotation, had zero gameplan, no adjustments, no strategy.

I'd like to say he reacted. I'd love to say he knee jerked and made rash decisions.

I wish. Instead, Carlisle looked smug and clueless on the sideline as 55 wins, a franchise-changing trade and another year of Kidd and Nowitzki were flushed down the toilet.

Why Beaubois wasn't on the floor in the fourth quarter until very late is probably the biggest question for us all.

It's preposterous. He wasn't resting him. Beaubois' young. He's played like 50-odd games and no heavy minutes.

Beaubois did everything. He was phenomenal. He was unleashed about two games too late.

Only down 3-2 in the series and down 22 points did Carlisle react and put Beaubois in the game. He was a game changer. He, with ease, went to the basket. Made shots. Played with poise and confidence.

On defense, he was still a rookie at times. Still gets lost on the pick and rolls. Still loses his assignment at times. But his ability to keep up with George Hill and Tony Parker was everything the Mavericks were lacking the first five games.

Most notably, his ability to close on shooters was something they needed desperately and, tonight, right when the Spurs were making their final run in the fourth, making big three point shots, letting Hill do what he wants, where was Beaubois?

Sitting on the goddamn bench.

Carlisle's mismanagement throughtout is fireable in my book. I might be overreacting. It's easy to get really mad right now and blame the wrong person. I mean, it was Beaubois missing free throws and losing the ball late.

It was an awful start that went on for about 18 game minutes before Carlisle really tried to do anything. By then, Nowitzki, Kidd and Haywood were in foul trouble, Butler had a tech and things had gotten out of hand.

Carlisle will probably keep his job because I'm not the boss and there's no one better out there.

But this one hurts badly because at the end, it was the team's best chance sitting on the goddamn bench.

****
During this period when the effective Dampier and Beaubois were warming the pine, something happened that reminded me of my father.

He was a rancher and farmer. Often when there was a group of guys working a situation would happen where one guy would be doing all the work while four guys watched.

It would be called "a county job" because often you'd see county road workers filling potholes -- one guy working and the other four watching.

From the beginning of the fourth quarter until the final four minutes, the Dallas Mavericks were the epitome of a county job.

It was Dirk Nowitzki doing all the work. Four guys watching.

Now, again, I'm no professional basketball coach, but what in the last five games would have made Carlisle think that this was going to work? It's probably one of the top one or two reasons why the Mavs were on the brink of elimination.

The Mavs were stuck in the rut of the half-court game, giving Nowitzki the ball 20 feet from the basket and working whatever match-up he got. Smaller guys, he'd shoot over them. Bigger guys, he'd drive.

This is the reason the Dallas Mavericks will not play another game until the fall. The Mavs got stuck in this rut. Stationed Terry and Butler on the wings. The center on the left block, out of rebound position and Nowitzki doing his thing. Eventually, the shots started losing arc. Falling short.

Four guys standing there. Watching.

Spurs get the rebound, an outlet pass and they have the Mavs out of position. Easy jump shot.

Repeat. Turn. Repeat.

It's simple. Without Beaubois, this team fell into the rut and tried to play the Spurs' game and they lost. Without the ball in Butler's hands, the Spurs settled for fall-away jumpers. Without Damp throwing those monster picks, they weren't putting pressure on a Spurs team that can be pressured on the defensive end.

It was maddenly. I sat with my arms crossed, fuming. My favorite team letting it slip through their fingers.

Ten things:

10. J.J. Barea is the worst basketball player I've ever seen. There have probably been worst, but those guys weren't getting meaty minutes in the playoffs. His "confidence" thinking he can do what a guy who's 6-7 can do makes him an obvious detrement to the team. He's a disaster. He needs to leave the team as soon as possible.

9. Losers: Jason Kidd and Jason Terry, for the series, shot 40-111 and 21-58 from the three-point line. Yikes. Any time two of your alleged top four players do that, you will lose the series.

8. Why isn't more being made out of Tim Duncan forgetting out to shoot free throws. For his career, he's a 68-percent guy. This season, he hit 70 percent of his charity stripe shots. Why, suddenly, does he look like an angry Special Olympian hitting a mere 57 percent of his free throws including 1-7 tonight?

7. As good as many Spurs were, Antonio McDyess continually hit huge shots over and over. I wondered how many times he was going to be left open until the Mavs did something about it.


6. In order to win in San Antonio, I thought the Mavs would need a decided advantage on the boards. They were beaten. In order to win, they needed to outrebounds the Spurs by double digits. It wasn't close. They were often beaten on defensive rebounds as the Spurs put out smaller line-ups with regularity. The Spurs had 11 offensive rebounds and a distinct advantage in second-chance points. Nowitzki, Marion and Butler combined for 12 rebounds.

5. There wasn't an emptier 21 minutes than Brendan Haywood's. There wasn't a more productive than Erick Dampier's. The numbers bear this out: Haywood, -13; Dampier, +12.

4. Mavericks should be faulted for, again, letting the Spurs and the officiating get into their heads. Silly fouls in the first half led directly to San Antonio points and added time on the bench for Nowitzki and Haywood. Neither did much good on the bench.

3. The Spurs shot 31 free throws. The Mavs 15.

2. Final game for Erick Dampier and Brendan Haywood? Hopefully.

1. Another off-season as Cuban and Co. try to figure this out. For my money, placing a stick of dynamite underneath everyone's chair and blowing it up is a really good idea. Too many questions and not nearly enough answers. At least for fans. Hopefully it's the same for management.