Avoiding more cold (play) in Canada

TORONTO – The flurries awaiting the Mavericks after reconvening Tuesday afternoon north of the border had little to do with the white stuff blowing outside.

Winter Storm Avery Johnson touched down on the practice court inside the Air Canada Centre after originating in New York. The second-half letdown against the Knicks the night before was still being felt during the focused two-hour workout.

“The film session was a little tense,” Jerry Stackhouse admitted. “I think just from a matter of the letdown, so many good things happened for two-and-half quarters for us. But just a couple bad possessions then all of a sudden it snowballed into more of a game than we liked.”

Sure, the Mavs (14-8) beat New York by 10, but considering their 23-point third-quarter lead was chopped to seven with plenty of time left, the win lost some of its luster. Dallas also had an uneven performance last month against the Raptors, rallying from 24 down to win.

“We just need to be mentally tougher, everyone, from one to five,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “We can’t give up easy layups offensively, transition baskets, and [need to] work on our pick-and-roll coverage.

“We just have to challenge ourselves mentally and stay in the game whether we’re up one or 15. We knew they weren’t going to give up. They kept making shots and kept coming back.”

Read the rest of this note and more at mavs.com.