2008-09 Dallas Mavericks: Bottom Five Team In the West?

The Dallas Mavericks limped into Chicago Thursday, having lost three consecutive games to drop their record in the early going to 2-5.  They may have needed a wheelchair to leave Chicago. The Mavs ended up dropping their fourth straight game, 98-91, largely due to a completely non—existent effort in the second half.  The Mavs roared out to a 24-5 lead in the first six minutes of the game, and it looked as if they'd run the Bulls right out of their own building.  Then, rookie head coach Vinny Del Negro called a timeout, inserted instant offense in Ben Gordon, and the Bulls were off and running.  Dallas got off to its quick start by running the floor and scoring easy buckets in the transition game, which is exactly what the Bulls did to get the Mavericks back on their heels to end the quarter.  After the first quarter, the Mavs led by 10 and still seemed to be in control. That's when it all really started going downhill. Chicago outscored Dallas by 11 in the ... (link)