During the 2012 NBA season, the Dallas Mavericks found out exactly how difficult it is to be “king.” After going through everything they had throughout their careers, long-in-the-tooth NBA veterans Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, and Shawn Marion had supposedly finally seen it all by winning their first championship last season. Apparently, there was still one more lesson the basketball Gods had in store for them: “It ain’t easy being king.”

For the Mavericks, the frightening part about Durant’s sluggish start was that the Thunder were still able to win both games in Oklahoma City. With an already tough task in front of them, the Mavs were hoping to keep Durant in his mini-slump just to make their series deficit surmountable. Fat chance.

Queue up Al Pacino’s locker room speech from Any Given Day because this Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder playoff matchup has fully proven the ‘Game of Inches’ theory. The inches went Kevin Durant’s way in Game 1 and didn’t for Dirk Nowitzki in Game 2.

Tyson Chandler will be named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year this afternoon. Remember him? You may have a faint recollection of the man who became the defensive anchor for the Dallas Mavericks last season as they won their first ever championship.

The Dallas Mavericks clinched a playoff spot for the 12th consecutive year on Thursday night by virtue of the Houston Rocket’s loss in New Orleans to the lowly Hornets. While seeding hasn’t yet been decided, qualifying for the playoffs this season has been nothing short of a chore for the Mavs. That may be acceptable for most teams in the league, but it’s not exactly how the world champions planned on defending their title.

There isn’t much time for the Dallas Mavericks to get on track this regular season. The goal is obviously to find some momentum and consistency before the playoffs hit, but this season is different in Dallas as the postseason isn’t yet assured with just a few games remaining.

It’s been a tumultuous past few days for the usually calm, collected Dallas Mavericks franchise due to the announcement that Lamar Odom would be inactive for the rest of the season.

Lamar Odom’s reign (of disinterest?) in Dallas came to a screeching halt today as it was announced this morning that the forward came to an agreement with the Dallas Mavericks to step away from the team for the rest of the season.

Not too much time has passed since the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers met in the First Round of the NBA playoffs last spring, but the cast of characters of one of these teams received a big time face lift.

The Mavs have one of their toughest and most important stretches of the season this week. It won’t get much easier for the rest of the regular season either.