http://tinyurl.com/7q2lwg When New Orleans comes to American Airlines Center, you anticipate an ugly reminder of how quickly the Mavericks' season ended in a 4-1 first-round playoff loss to the Hornets eight months ago. Wednesday night was different. Watching Dallas compete for a half before the Hornets actually started playing defense and supreme point guard Chris Paul took over with 33 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds and seven steals, you wondered if such a thing as a first-round playoff matchup with the Hornets or another member of the Western Conference elite is even conceivable. After Hornets 104, Mavericks 97, the losing streak is at four. And so the answer is no. The Mavericks were good enough to split four games with the Hornets last regular season, but the playoff series was over in five games. And the way the Mavs have been losing road games to bad teams and struggling to beat bad teams at home, a playoff trip of any kind – even as a No. 8 seed losing quickly and dispassionately to the Los Angeles Lakers – seems completely unrealistic. Look, there are only nine teams competing for the eight playoff spots in the West. Sacramento, Memphis and the LA Clippers, just to mention three teams the Mavs have lost road games against, are long gone. So are Golden State, Oklahoma City and Minnesota. So the Mavs are just trying to make sure they aren't the one team of the nine above .500 to end up in the lottery instead of the playoffs. Right now that doesn't look like it can happen. Coach Rick Carlisle simply doesn't have enough offense to work with on most nights. That's despite the fact Jason Terry is playing as well as he ever has, either here or in Atlanta. Because Carlisle likes to have at least some offense – as in Terry – coming off his bench, he started Dirk Nowitzki and four guys who combined are averaging fewer points than Nowitzki against Denver on Tuesday and New Orleans on Wednesday. That the Mavericks still put 30 on the board in the first quarter and 56 in the first half doesn't mean this will happen night after night. That hasn't been the case. The Mavericks didn't have enough offense to keep pace with the Kings on Sunday night. The Kings! And despite 44 points from Dirk in Denver, and no Carmelo Anthony and 1-for-14 shooting from J.R. Smith, Dallas still couldn't outscore the Nuggets. The Mavericks are nothing more than a 10-10 road team, and that road is about to get tougher. Between next week and the end of February, the Mavs play nine road games. None of the opponents are seeded lower than Dallas' current position of ninth. You would think the most winnable game would be the first one. Dallas goes to Philadelphia (ninth in East) on Monday. But the Mavericks struggled mightily to beat that team here two weeks ago, and the Sixers buried Portland by 21 at home Wednesday night. After that, the Mavericks' road games are against Milwaukee (eighth), Detroit (fourth), the defending champion Celtics (third), Miami (sixth), Orlando (second), Utah (seventh), Houston (eighth) and San Antonio (third). Given how this team has fared away from AAC, how many of those nine look like victories? Three? At most? Where do you suppose that might get them? The good news for Mavs fans is that they aren't going to fall all the way to No. 10 in the West. But No. 9? Until further notice, or a trade that significantly upgrades the Dallas offense, nine is the Mavericks' not-so-magic number for 2009. --

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