Amongst Linsanity and other long winning streaks around the league, the defending champs had quietly run off four straight wins and began rounding into form. With tough wins over the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Trailblazers, and Clippers, the Mavericks were beginning to find their stride against quality teams in the Western Conference. It was more of the same tonight with Denver in town again.

After three straight games of having a completely healthy roster, the Mavericks found themselves without a couple of key pieces. Before the game, Dallas found out they would be without guards Jason Terry (Right Quad Strain) and Rodrigue Beaubois (Death in the Family). While Terry’s injury isn’t believed to be serious, it remains unknown how much time Beaubois will miss. The circumstances are certainly sad for Beaubois and remind us all how some things are bigger than basketball, but the game had to go on.

The Mavericks’ guard depth took another hit early in the Denver game after Delonte West fractured his finger in a scramble for the ball during the second quarter and did not return. The Nuggets aren’t a team that has any sympathy for Dallas, as they were without highly productive players Nene and Danilo Gallinari, as well as center Timofey Mozgov.

It was a watered down affair at the American Airlines Center for sure, but an important one nonetheless.

Without much of their frontcourt, the Nuggets went into tonight’s game severely lacking size and gave the Mavericks a big advantage with their big men in the paint. It went that way early as Dallas dominated defensively, holding the Nuggets to their season low scoring in a half as they led 51-39 at the break. The Mavericks made the decision to use their best defender in Shawn Marion on Denver’s lone offensive weapon, Ty Lawson, and make the rest of the team beat them. The strategy was a wild success as Lawson was held to only three points and two assists in 26 minutes.

If Shawn Marion hadn’t been making enough noise as a candidate for All-NBA first team defense so far this year, he made sure to do that with his performance tonight. The league isn’t exactly overflowing with players who can check guys like Chris Paul, Ricky Rubio, and Ty Lawson all the way up to Carmelo Anthony and LaMarcus Aldridge on a night-to-night basis. Marion is one of the few who meets those criteria.

Once the second half began, this one quickly turned into a laugher as the Mavericks jumped out to a lead as big as 31 points and eventually settled into a 102-84 Dallas victory. Denver just couldn’t compete with a superior team while not having their own stars on the court. Dallas got the win to stretch their winning streak to five games, but injuries became the main issue for the night. Word came down during the game that West dislocated and fracture his right ring finger, making the timetable for his return unknown until tomorrow. You have to imagine that he will miss some significant time with an injury like that.

With West hurting in addition to Terry and Beaubois, Dallas’ backcourt instantly becomes a big concern. This is especially the case considering the age of Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, as well as the inexperience of rarely used Dominique Jones. Those three are currently the only options Dallas has.

Already in the midst of a difficult portion of their schedule, injuries won’t make games in surprising Philadelphia or ‘Linsanity’ ridden New York any easier. Dirk Nowitzki again had a performance that was less than elite as he shot 5 for 12 from the field for 12 points, but now would be as good a time as any for him to begin carrying the Mavs as he so often has during his career until the bench can heal up and begin being a team strength again.