The Cavaliers' performance last night was lacking in hops. Just ask head coach John Lucas.

``There's Miller low life and Miller high life,'' he said.

With point guard Andre Miller missing his first career game with a shoulder injury, the Cavs didn't play a very good brand of basketball. They were crushed 102-82 by Dallas before 17,408 at American Airlines Center.

Miller suffered a right shoulder separation Tuesday at Houston, ending his streak of 185 consecutive games played. The Cavs are calling the injury to Miller, who could return tomorrow against Philadelphia, a severe contusion.

Without Miller, the Mavericks (14-9) made the Cavs (9-13) black and blue. But the point guard who replaced Miller wasn't as much of a problem as the point guard who replaced Bimbo Coles.

Coles, making his first start in his two seasons with the Cavs, shot 5-of-6 for 11 points and had three assists in the game's first 13 minutes. When Coles went to the bench for the first time, the Cavs were within 26-25.

Trajan Langdon then entered the game, and everything changed in a hurry. In the next six minutes that Langdon was on the floor, the Mavericks outscored the Cavs 16-7 to take a commanding 42-32 lead, as point guard Tim Hardaway scored eight of his 17 points.