Dirk Nowitzki spent about 30 seconds on the floor of The Pyramid in Memphis before the game on Sunday, moving cautiously, before he realized his ankle would not allow him to be ready to go against the Grizzlies.
     That is one of the down sides of this first week of the season, one in which the Mavericks won three of four, including two of three on the road.
     However, there is another down side: This team is not playing very well. The Mavericks are, in particular, not shooting well, not from the line and not from the arc.
     The absence of Dirk is a factor ? when he went down with an ankle injury on Friday night in Toronto, the feeling among the team was comparable to the feel you get on the Mavs? team plane when the pilots take it to 25,000 feet and the cabin pressure changes. ? That was the look and the mood surrounding Dirk?s injury, and maybe for the first time, the fans of Dallas can begin to realize how important this guy is to everything the team does.
     Nowitzki is day-to-day, as are Adrian Griffin (who also tried to jog around briefly on Sunday) and Greg Buckner. Certainly, the Mavs need to get healthy. They miss not only the skills of Nowitzki, but the energy of Griff and Buck. Coaches cannot require players to play if they do not feel they can perform, and a team must learn to play without them whenever necessary.
     But here comes a three-game homestand, starting Tuesday against a Charlotte team that is very good, among the elite of the East. Let me tell you something: Campberll Mashburn, P.J. Brown, David Wesley and Baron Davis? They can really play.
     As pleased as the Mavs should be with their 3-1 record ? and this is a very professional Mavericks club, a fine team, a terrific atmosphere -- they need to understand that if they perform at the same level on Tuesday that they did on Sunday, they will not have the same degree of success.