If you follow my Tumblr site you know that I went to the Mavs-Rockets game on Thursday night ... and if you saw even a portion of the game, you know that watching the Mavs without Dirk isn't exactly the prettiest thing to see.

Of course I know how important Dirk is to the Mavs, but I didn't think that his absence would result in the total collapse as it did.  I really expected Howard to step up a lot more offensively.  And what's with Jason Terry lately?  Can he make shot?

For a team that prided themselves on defense the past two seasons, you would think they would, I don't know, actually play defense.  Maybe it was the beer, but it sure seemed that the Rockets scored within the first ten seconds of every possession.

With only a month left in the season, and 5 1/2 games separating the 1st and 8th place teams in the West, it's going to be a wild finish.  Thank goodness the next 5 teams coming up for the Mavs have losing records, starting with Kidd's former Nets tonight.

Oh, and what's with Houston winning 17-straight?

FILE:  SPORTS