Let’s play a game of fill in the blank. “Don’t overreact. The season is still young. The Dallas Mavericks have only played (insert your number here) games so far—so there is still time to turn things around.” What is your number? Is it 5, 15, 30?

I have always believed that by the time an NBA ledger reaches double digits, you can begin to draw some conclusions. Trends emerge, rotations become clear, and the distance between the perception of a team and the reality we see on the floor begins to come into focus. For this year’s edition of the Dallas Mavericks, troubling trends emerged on opening night versus the San Antonio Spurs, and concerns deepened in the second game – a home loss to the rebuilding Washington Wizards. After returning the favor and defeating the Wizards to claw to a reco

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