Anyone who watched the Mavericks/Lakers game on Sunday probably came away with two conclusions.

One, this is still a team that lives and dies by the jump shot.

And two, the Mavericks have no one who can consistently break down a defense and score when the going's tough.

Unfortunately, those two factors make for disaster in the playoffs.

Don't argue that Dirk is the answer to number two. He is too often involved with number one, which makes him no solution for number two.

Got that?

The Mavericks surely have the ability to make any playoff series interesting. Just having Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry on your team gives you that. But what else do they have? Not much. The return of Josh Howard will add some scoring, but this remains a finesse team and finesse teams don't make big strides in the playoffs. Not when you play in a conference with the Lakers and Spurs. The Mavericks' play carried them to the 2006 NBA Finals, but it's not going to serve them well in 2009.

Dallas also had Devin Harris back in 2006. Don't overlook what he brought to the table. In many of those playoff games, Devin was the only one going to the basket consistently, drawing fouls and creating inside scoring opportunities. Besides Dirk and Josh (when they feel like it), Dallas doesn't have that guy anymore.

Unless something dramatically changes in the West with injuries, look for Dallas to be one and done in the playoffs.

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