In the daily drama As the Western Conference turns, the Dallas Mavericks are the latest team to be in trouble and it isn't likely to get better any time soon.

Not only did the Mavs blow a 12-point second half lead and lose 88-81 to the San Antonio Spurs Sunday afternoon, but they lost All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki for what owner Mark Cuban predicted to be two weeks after the game.

With 3:18 left in the third period and the Mavs leading, Nowitzki raced back on a fast break for a brilliant block of Ime Udoka's drive to the glass. But Nowitzki landed awkwardly on his left leg that crumbled as he hit the floor writhing in pain - suffering a lower leg injury that won't be detailed until later Monday. He was helped off the floor and attempts to put weight on it heading to the locker room were fruitless.

"I fell awkwardly and my left leg got caught underneath me," Nowitzki said in a statement released by the team Sunday after the game. "I am going to get re-evaluated in the morning (Monday) and I hope to have more information then."

Right now, not much information coming from the Mavericks camp is good. Not only did Nowitzki go down after the block, but Tim Duncan got the rebound for the Spurs and converted it into a 3-point play to give the Spurs their first lead of the second half. They never trailed again.

It was the third loss in a row for the Mavericks - all at home - and they have fallen to just a half game ahead of the eighth place Warriors and two games ahead of the ninth place Nuggets. Granted, the losses were to the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs, but this is the first time they've lost three consecutive games in Dallas since December of 2004.

More disconcerting is how they have struggled to adjust to the much ballyhooed trade that brought Jason Kidd (plus Malik Allen and Antoine Wright) to Dallas in exchange for Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager and retired Keith Van Horn.  The primary reason that some didn't like the deal for the Mavs was steeped in Kidd's limited window as a star at 35, and the loss of Diop as a defensive presence inside.

That was supposed to be a big picture issue.

Instead, the snapshot has been far more disconcerting than anyone anticipated.

Seventeen games into it, the Mavericks still aren't comfortable with Kidd running the point. They are 9-8 overall, but 0-8 against teams with winning records and 3-7 against the West. Instead of being the leader on the floor at crunch time, coach Avery Johnson clearly is prickly about leaving Kidd in the game because of his poor shooting. While he's always been an erratic shooter, other coaches have always let him play through it because of what he does for everybody else, not to mention his rebounding and defense.

Still, Johnson's point is reflected by Kidd shooting 3-of-10 Sunday and 4-of-21 with 10 total points the past three games - his 21 assists in the three games notwithstanding.

His uneven playing time has ostensibly become a particularly sore subject between Johnson and owner Mark Cuban, who spent a fortune for the deal - coaxing Van Horn out of retirement for a ludicrous $4 million just so the salary cap figures could work - and then there is the forthcoming luxury tax. Money isn't the issue here, though ... winning is.

During one stretch Sunday as the game was slipping away, Johnson didn't even have a point guard in the game, and after a timeout, brought in recently signed free agent Tyronn Lue instead of Kidd. It didn't help matters any, and just brought more attention to Kidd's ineffectiveness thus far.

On the other hand, without Nowitzki, it may very well force Johnson to play smaller and faster which should play into the strength of Kidd. Can he afford to play 6-7 Josh Howard and 6-5 Jerry Stackhouse up front together for the bulk of games against the big front lines in the West - becoming dependent on zone defenses and center Erick Dampier? Certainly the three inches Devean George has on Stackhouse for defense and rebounding doesn't give them much more comparing the overall impact of the two players. And that also translates into Jason Terry, all 6-1 of him, playing most of the game with Kidd in the backcourt if Stackhouse moves up front more often.

Or perhaps he'll just remain conventional with young power forward Brandon Bass or the aforementioned Malik Allen starting in place of Nowitzki. They'll have to play both forward and center at least some of the time anyway.

Seven of the final 12 games are on the road for the Mavericks, including three of the next four. At 44-26, they are on the brink either way you look at it. With the precarious advantage over the streaky Warriors and Nuggets, both of whom won close games against playoff-bound teams on the road Sunday, the good news is two of the next four games for the Mavs are against the battered and lowly Clippers. On the flip side, the other two are huge games at Denver and Golden State that will have enormous playoff ramifications. Add to that, the Lakers, Suns and another game with the Warriors during this two-week stretch, their fate may be decided before Nowitzki returns.

On the heels of blowing the 2-0 lead in the Finals of 2006 and the incredible first-round loss to the eighth-seeded Warriors last season as a top seed, the hangover has been palpable all season. The Mavs won 67 games last season, including 31-10 on the road. They are 15-19 going into this week away from home and light years behind last year's team-record pace with essentially the same core team as a year ago.

It may be just a touch too early to refer to the Kidd deal as a panicky move that will necessitate other moves in the offseason ... but not by much.

Now they've lost three in a row in Dallas and Nowitzki, presumably for an extended period of time. It's time for Johnson to let Kidd prove his leadership and in many ways justify the trade. The possibility of them slipping out of the playoffs isn't likely, but it certainly is very real.

Should that occur, the wrath of Cuban won't be far behind and the Mavericks as we have known them the past 5-6 years may very well be history.