Time to refocus and reenergize

In an effort to get “refocused and reenergized,” Avery Johnson isn’t putting the team through a practice today. The only team function was a film session scheduled for this morning.

The Mavs are in funk, dropping six of the last nine. Remember how dominant they were on the second half of back-to-backs last season going 15-1? They’re 2-2 this season, which sounds fine, but they’ve also been swept twice (first and second night) in less than two weeks.

“This has been a tough stretch for us right now, during this part of the schedule, like every NBA team has,” Johnson said last night. “We haven’t done a good job of fighting any sort of perceived fatigue. So we just have to stick with it.

“We haven’t been here before. I’ve been here before and I know what it feels like and we have the men to work our way out of it. We just have to fight through it and take time and refocus and reenergize and get back after it the next game. The men are up for the challenge.”

The Mavs have four losses to teams currently with losing records. The 12-8 start is the slowest after 20 games since having the same mark to open up the 2001-02 season.

“Not the way you want to start a season and we lost some games we should have won,” Dirk Nowitzki said last night. “We’re looking forward to the rest of the season because it can only get better on both ends of the floor.”

The list of issues starts with defense. Thursday’s loss to Denver at home may have been the low point. The 122 points scored by the Nuggets are the most allowed by Dallas this season. It doesn’t get easier with Utah coming to town tomorrow night.

“We just got to get everyone on the same page,” Devin Harris explained. “A lot of guys making a lot of different mistakes, me included and we’ve got to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities.”