Insider Special: Power Outage

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Mavs only marginal lately

By Terry Brown

Wednesday, February 5 Updated 12:06 PM EST

Put your pencils down and pass your papers forward.

We are officially past the midway point of the season, about to head into the all-star break with the trading deadline just around the corner.

And all we really know at this point is that the five teams with the best records in the league also have the largest margins of victory, the five teams with the worst records have the largest margins of defeat and, in 30 or so games, we'll be waiting to see what the Los Angeles Lakers are going to do.

Again.

If the regular-season ended today, the Suns, Rockets, Bucks and Wizards of the 29-team league of which 16 make the playoffs would replace the Lakers, Sonics, Magic and Raptors in the postseason.

That is, of course, if the Minnesota Timberwolves can maintain their 29-20 record throughout the rest of the season despite winning those games by a slight 0.8 point average margin of victory heading into Tuesday night's contest.

And the Boston Celtics can recover from that ugly 118-66 backhand from the Pistons last week that made them the only team in the entire league with a winning record with an average margin of defeat. The 52-point loss single-handidly flipped them from 0.4 in the black to 0.8 in the red, which is worse than the Golden State Warriors, who are an improved five games under .500 with a 0.6 average margin of defeat.

The fourth-best team in the East has lost its last three games since the debacle and fallen to four games above .500.

With that said, there are six teams in the NBA currently within five games or fewer of squeezing into that 16-team playoff field, including the aforementioned three-time champs who, in the last numerical month, have beaten opponents by an average of 8.3 points per game just to reach .500.

Whew.

By the way, there will be a quiz on all of this on Monday.

BIGGEST MARGINS OF VICTORY

1. Dallas Mavericks

Difference: +9.9 points (102.5 to 92.6)

Comment: Don't let this ranking fool you. Big D has become little or none. Before their current 7-5 streak of mediocrity, the Dallas Mavericks were giving up only 88 points per game and more than willing to throw Avery Johnson nine minutes a game despite having Steve Nash and Nick Van Exel as a way of showing off. Since then, they've taken to giving up 98.2 points per game, including 100 to a Denver Nugget team that could muster only 53 points in a game this season, and signed some chump named Tony Rigaudeau, Antoine if you must, to, I guess, draw attention away from the fact that their margin of victory has been a declining 4.0 in that same span.

2. New Jersey Nets

Difference: +7.3 points (97.3 to 90.0)

Comment: They may be going through a tough spot recently, 7-6 to be exact, but the defending Eastern Conference champs can still lay a hurting on someone when need be. Last week, they beat three teams, two of them playoff contenders in the East, by a combined 51 points. Now, if they could only do something about that nasty 22-point loss directly following those games . . .

3. Sacramento Kings

Difference: +6.8 points (100.8 to 94.0)

Comment: Anything I would or could write here would be pure speculation since the four-leading scorers for this team have missed 68 contests due to injury in just 50 scheduled games. But we can always imagine what those numbers would be otherwise.

4. Detroit Pistons

Difference: +4.6 (90.7 to 86.1)

Comment: The last time these misers gave up a hun-spot was on Dec. 20. And that was in overtime. And they won. As it is, only four teams of the NBA's 29 score less per game than the Pistons, the No. 5 team in the league record-wise, but not one of them gives up fewer points. In fact, they once scored only 74 points in a game this season and still won by 21. Remember, this is the team that not only sports an undersized center who averages 6.5 points per game but also got him elected to start the All-Star Game.

5. Indiana Pacers

Difference: +4.5 (98.5 to 94.0)

Comment: Put your tarot cards away and pause the M. Night Shyamalan video. After 48 games, the Pacers are averaging 4.4 more free throws per game than their opponents, which might have something to do with their 4.5 point margin of victory since they and their counterparts are both shooting 77 percent from the charity stripe. Cue Rod Sterling. Or, despite their whining to the contrary, Oliver Stone.

BIGGEST MARGIN OF DEFEAT

25. Chicago Bulls

Difference: -4.3 points (93.8 to 98.1)

Comment: If only Michael Jordan had a statue in front of every building they played in. At home, they are 15-7 (better, mind you, than the three-time defending champions) and average 96.1 points per game while giving up only 95.8. But on the road, they are 2-25 (heck, the Cleveland Cavs have at least 3 wins) and average 92 points per game to their opponents' 100.1. But, then again, it isn't much better when Jordan is actually inside the building, either. Against the Wizards, the Bulls average only 94.6 ppg while giving up 101.6 in their three meetings.

26. Memphis Grizzlies

Difference: -5.5 points (94.9 to 100.4)

Comment: Watch that first step. The Grizzlies began the year 0-13 by giving up an average of 9.8 more points per game to their opponents than they were scoring by giving up what would have become a league-worst 103.2 points per game. They settled down, hired Hubie Brown, and compiled a 13-15 record while losing by an average of only 2.8 points. But then they looked down, saw that their uniforms still said Memphis on the road and Grizzlies at home, and lost their latest six games by an average of nine points.

27. Toronto Raptors

Difference: -6.6 points (88.7 to 95.3)

Comment: Here's the good news and the bad. With Vince Carter, the Raptors are 8-7 with a 2.4 point average margin of defeat. Without Vince Carter, they are 6-27 with an 8.3 point average margin of defeat. Now, after betting the franchise on him, you tell me which is which.

28. Denver Nuggets

Difference: -7.9 points (81.0 to 88.9)

Comment: On Nov. 16, the Denver Nuggets scored 53 points in a 48-minute professional basketball game and lost by 21. Less than a month later, they scored 104 points also in a 48-minute professional basketball game playing with the same rules and pulling from the same referee pool with relatively the same roster. They still lost by seven but isn't it amazing that before this season is up, they could very well score twice as many points as they did in a previous game.

29. Cleveland Cavaliers

Difference: -10.4 (90.6 to 101.0)

Comment: What did you really expect? The Cavs have now gotten rid of their three-leading scorers from last season, their head coach and, if we are to believe an 18-year-old owner of a slightly dented Hummer with three television sets inside and a million television cameras outside, the No. 1 pick of next year. After a four-year reign as the absolute worst team in the NBA, the Bulls relinquish the title to a team that is on pace to win 15 games this season and can't decide if its best player should be bronzed or benched for calling the kettle black.