Mavericks' Rick Carlisle: 'We don't play hard all the time. And that's a problem'

The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, 98-92. And head coach Rick Carlisle's had about enough. He ripped his team after the game. Actually, he did more than that. He questioned the "soul" of his team. He went deep. 

"This is a Dallas Mavericks play-hard problem, all right? We don't play hard all the time," Carlisle said. "And that's a problem." 

The Mavericks were up by six late in the game, but couldn't seal the deal. Phoenix came back to win its fourth straight, moving to within 2.5 games of Oklahoma City for eighth in the West.

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Monta Ellis had a game to forget, shooting a nasty 4-of-22 from the floor, finishing with only 11 points. He shot 39 percent from the floor in February, and is at 38 percent in March. He's not producing. 

Carlisle's not about to single him out, though.

"We've got to get shots," Carlisle said about Ellis. "He's the one guy who can get clean shots. And he's getting good looks. I always believe he's going to make the next one."

Dallas was down 33-27 after the first quarter Sunday, and scored only 15 points in the second. They went into halftime down 15, and Carlisle let his team have it. 

"It's pretty clear that's where our inconsistency is, and we've got to get better," Carlisle added. "We've got to be a more together team. I believe that we can do it. We did it in the second half, but it's work. It takes effort. It takes effort in the locker room, it takes sacrifice and we've got to be willing to do those things."

The Mavericks are sputtering down the stretch, sitting in seventh place in the conference. A 44-27 record would be good for third in the East, but it isn't good enough in the NBA's premium conference. The Mavericks have dropped two in a row and are 8-8 since the All-Star break. 

Carlisle can't answer questions about consistency. That's on his players.

I think that's a question you've got to ask them. I have my theories, but I'm not going to air them out publicly. I aired things out in (the locker room) at halftime, and I've said enough as far as that goes. If you've got questions about strategies and specific things, I'll answer them. But in terms of the soul of the team, you've got to ask those guys.

What is the soul of the Mavericks? That's a question a little too heavy for Tyson Chandler.

"I don't know how to answer that question," Chandler said. "That's a deep question. Something with the soul? That is a question I cannot answer."

Chandler, instead, is going to worry about what he can control: effort.

I'm going to always show up to fight every night. I'm gonna compete. I feel like we've got guys on this team that compete. I don't know why we're not doing it as a whole. I don't know. Like I said, I'm going to continue to challenge guys, continue to challenge myself, continue to make a push because at the end of the day, we have to get prepared for the playoffs. We can't have these types of performances, or it's going to make for a short-lived playoff experience and long offseason.

The Mavericks have 11 games to sort out their issues. The playoffs aren't in doubt, but this is a franchise used to playing deep into the spring - it's expected.

Dirk Nowitzki believes the Mavericks suffer from a lack of focus. They're picking and choosing their spots. 

"I just think we've got to have longer stretches like we had in the second half," he said. "Teams are too good these days, and maybe we're not that good where we can just coast and turn it on and decide to play and steal a win, especially on the road. We've just got to do longer stretches, play harder." 

He's right. That's the reality of life in the West. 

The Mavericks roared back with a dominant third quarter Sunday night, outscoring Phoenix 33-19, then managed only 17 points in the fourth, blowing their lead in the process.

"Hey, the basketball gods are gonna get you when you don't show up and play for 24 minutes," said Carlisle. "That's what happened (Sunday night)."

The basketball gods are a bit more cruel out West.