Stick a fork in 'em to see if the Mavs are done

The Mavericks five-game series win over the San Antonio Spurs gave me a false sense of optimism. For a minute there, I thought a team that had disappointed me all season long might actually be better than I had given them credit for.

Then came yesterday's second-round series opener against the Denver Nuggets and what I quickly discovered was (1) that the Mavs, at full strength, are a better team than the Spurs without Manu Ginobli, but probably not a better team with him; and (2) that the Denver Nuggets, which won 14 of their last 17 games, including 11 by double figures, are far better than the Mavs right now. Look at it this way, Denver thumped Dallas 109-95 Sunday in a game in which the Nuggets two best players -- Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups -- were essentially non-factors. That's scary.

What is also scary is that either the Mavericks are very tired right now or Denver's altitude took a toll on the team. Several times Dallas' transition game suffered because players were struggling to walk up the court.

The game also seemed to go south for the Mavs the moment Josh Howard was injured. The team was never the same after that, even when Howard returned to the lineup.

I know Dallas owner Mark Cuban and the other conspirators want to blame the referees for the loss, but that's ridiculous. The refs didn't commit eight turnovers, Jason Kidd did. I can't see blaming the referees for the Mavs decision to stop playing defense after the first quarter.

So this is where it ends for the Mavs this season. If this series goes beyond five games I will be shocked and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Mavs get swept. But at least the Mavs made it out of the first round this year, unlike the last two, even if it took an injury to Ginobli to do it. But, hey, those are the breaks (pardon the pun). The Mavericks would have never made it past Phoenix three seasons ago -- the year they lost to the Heat in the NBA finals -- if Amare Stoudemire wasn't injured and had been able to play for the Suns in that series.