Josh Howard's absence didn't come close to explaining the Mavericks latest disappointment. Pick on the defense if you want. The Los Angeles Clippers did. Of course, the Mavericks offense didn't exactly inspire poetry. Poor defense and bad offense will do a team in every time, even when the opponent is a Clippers team that had been winless until Sunday's 103-92 breakthrough. But that only scratches the surface as to what bothers the Mavericks these days. After the team's fourth loss of the young season, Dirk Nowitzki questioned the team's effort and said it has been coasting. "If you don't compete hard, it's not about Xs and Os,'' Nowitzki said. "You can run whatever play you want. You can have all the schemes you want defensively. We've just got to push ourselves to play harder. "I don't know what it is. I don't know what's going on. We don't leave it all out there, and that's what you've got to do.''
