MyDallasMavs: Mavs struggle without Dirk, falling to the Pacers 102-89

Dallas-still without Dirk-lost their 3rd game in a row, falling to 3rd seed in the west.

Coach Carlisle took a different approach in the game last night, benching Terry again, moving Stevenson from small forward back to two-guard, Marion from power forward to small forward and Ajinca to the starting lineup alongside Chandler. Jason Kidd also started like always.

The lack of offense from that starting five became a huge problem, showing in the third quarter when the Mavs only scored 17 points. No Dallas starters scored more than 13 points, and Jason Terry had 18 but it took him 20 shots to get there.

The game was tied 12 times and there was 5 lead changes. Up until the half, the two teams stayed pretty even, but it was in the third quarter when the Pacers began to pull away outscoring the Mavs 25-17.

Although the Pacers are just 16-20, they have added the Mavericks to their list of top teams that they've beaten such as the Lakers, the Hornets, Denver and Miami. This was also their 2nd consecutive win and the first time they've scored 100+ points in back to back games since November.

Brandon Rush led all scorers with 20 points, and Granger and Collison added 17 points each. George also added 16 points. For the Mavs, Terry led with 18 points, Kidd: 13, Chandler: 13, Marion: 12, and Stevenson: 10. The Mavericks had 12 turnovers as the Pacers only had 8, 2 in the second half. Turnovers half definitely been a concern for the Mavs.

It looks like Sasha Pavlovic is not the missing piece to their puzzle as he scored just 2 points, 1 assist and 1 steal in 16 minutes. The trade deadline is approaching quickly, and their has been much talk about who Cuban and Carlisle are trying to acquire, but it is still not certain.

Tomorrow, the Mavs take on their rival Spurs again. Whether Dirk will play is still not known.