The Mavericks lost to Miami one night earlier and admitted they were outshoved and outdefended in that game. They were even, they said, "exposed" as a team too reliant upon scoring and not good enough at defense yet.

So even if three of their four games with new key rotation pieces of Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel have been victories, there's plenty to work on.

"We got exposed, but the good thing is we've got enough time to cover those areas and get better at it," Van Exel said.

Said Avery Johnson: "If it did [expose us], good. I'd rather have something you can work on with 24 games left."