Against Philadelphia, they made it five-for-five in bounce-back wins, even though it was a lot tougher this time. J.J. Barea had three critical plays in a row early in the fourth quarter to spark the Mavericks , then Jason Terry saved their skin with an 18-foot baseline jumper with 1.4 seconds left that clinched a 104-102 win over the Sixers at American Airlines Center.

Barea had a 3-pointer, drew an offensive foul by taking a charge and then scored on a layup as the Mavericks turned a four-point lead into an 87-78 advantage.

From there, the Mavericks held on - barely.

Carlisle's point must have been resonating in their ears. He believes the Mavericks are resilient, sure. But is it really a great character trait? Or does it beg a deeper question?

"I think we got a pretty good team and some of it is when you lose, you get ticked off and come back and win," Carlisle said. "I think it's a dangerous cycle to get into, because then the question becomes, 'Why are you losing in the first place?'

"We're trying to get better every day and get more consistent. In our wins, our points per possession defensively ranks No. 1 in the league, by far. In our losses, we rank last in the league by far. That's something we're trying to reconcile. We want to be good every night. We don't want to have the lapses.

"We don't want the wild highs and lows that we're going through."

At least the bad mood swings don't last long. The Mavericks came back from a 16-point loss at Cleveland with a solid effort led by Jason Kidd, who had a season-best 22 points and 11 assists, and Dirk Nowitzki, who had 28 points.

But it was Barea's quick outburst that helped make up for the Mavericks' second horrid rebounding game in a row. After tying a franchise-low in boards with 24 in Cleveland, they got butchered, 60-37.

Barea also had another 3-pointer that came when Philly had drawn within 92-86. Not that it didn't get sticky down the stretch. Thaddeus Young had a follow shot and a 3-pointer that pulled Philadelphia within 101-99 with a minute to go.

The Mavericks missed three layups, one by Nowitzki and two on tip tries by Drew Gooden.

The Sixers were foiled once when Shawn Marion played tight defense on Iquodala. But after Kidd hit just one of two free throws, Iguodala got another chance and hit the trey over Marion's outstretched arms.

That set the table for Terry. After his shot, the Sixers did not get a good shot, with Iguodala missing a prayer.

Briefly: Quinton Ross said he probably will miss another game or two with his lower-back problem. "It's still the same," Ross said. "I'm getting it worked on, but it's still not right."

Mavericks SCHEDULE

NOVEMBER

Day Date Opponent TV Time

Mon 30 Philadelphia FSSW 7:30

DECEMBER

Day Date Opponent TV Time

Wed 2 at New Jersey FSSW 6:30

Fri 4 at Memphis FSSW 7:00

Sat 5 Atlanta FSSW 8:00

Tue 8 Phoenix Ch. 21 7:30

Fri 11 at Miami FSSW 6:30

Sat 12 Charlotte FSSW 7:30

Mon 14 New Orleans Ch. 21/NBA 7:30

Wed 16 at Oklahoma City FSSW/ESPN 7:00

Fri 18 Houston Ch. 21 7:30

Sun 20 Cleveland Ch. 21/NBA 6:30

Tue 22 Portland Ch. 21 7:30

Sat 26 Memphis FSSW 2:00

Sun 27 at Denver FSSW 7:00

Thu 31 at Houston Ch. 21 6:00

JANUARY

Day Date Opponent TV Time

Sat 2 at Sacramento FSSW 9:00

Sun 3 at LA Lakers Ch. 21 8:30

Tue 5 Detroit FSSW 7:30

Fri 8 at San Antonio Ch. 21 7:30

Sat 9 Utah FSSW 7:30

Wed 13 LA Lakers Ch. 21 7:30

Fri 15 Oklahoma City FSSW 7:30

Sun 17 at Toronto FSSW 11:30 a.m.

Mon 18 at Boston TNT 7:00

Wed 20 at Washington FSSW 6:00

Fri 22 at Philadelphia FSSW 6:00

Sun 24 at New York FSSW noon

Tue 26 Milwaukee FSSW 7:30

Thu 28 at Phoenix TNT 9:30

Sat 30 Portland Ch. 21 7:00

FEBRUARY

Day Date Opponent TV Time

Mon 1 at Utah FSSW 8:00

Wed 3 Golden State FSSW 7:30

Fri 5 Minnesota FSSW 7:30

Mon 8 at Golden State FSSW 9:30

Tue 9 at Denver Ch. 21 8:00

Tue 16 at Oklahoma City FSSW 7:00

Wed 17 Phoenix Ch. 21/ESPN 8:00

Fri 19 at Orlando Ch. 21/ESPN 7:00

Sat 20 Miami FSSW/NBA 7:30

Mon 22 Indiana FSSW 7:30

Wed 24 LA Lakers Ch. 21/ESPN 8:00

Fri 26 at Atlanta FSSW/ESPN 7:00

Sun 28 New Orleans Ch. 21/ESPN 8:30

MARCH

Day Date Opponent TV Time

Mon 1 at Charlotte FSSW 6:00

Wed 3 Minnesota FSSW 7:30

Fri 5 Sacramento FSSW 7:30

Sat 6 at Chicago FSSW 7:00

Mon 8 at Minnesota FSSW 7:00

Wed 10 New Jersey FSSW 7:30

Sat 13 New York FSSW 7:30

Mavericks 104, Sixers 102

SIXERS M FG M-A 3-pt M-A FT M-A Tot. Pts. Reb. O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea. Avg. High Game

Iguoldala 33:38 6-17 2-5 5-6 19 1-4 4 3 4 3 1 18.1 32

Young 36:01 8-18 2-5 3-4 21 4-7 2 3 3 3 3 14.8 25

Dalembert 32:33 2-6 0-0 2-2 6 7 19 2 3 3 3 5.8 15

Green 37:59 8-16 0-1 7-7 23 2-8 0 5 1 0 0 5.5 23

Holiday 24:55 3-7 0-1 2-2 8 0-0 4 1 0 4 0 4.0 11

Brand 24:58 8-12 0-0 5-6 21 6-10 0 2 0 1 0 11.5 22

Carney 7:35 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 4.9 13

Smith 16:05 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 3-7 1 1 0 1 0 5.8 14

Kapono 10:31 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 6.5 20

Ivey 15:44 1-5 0-1 0-0 2 1-4 1 1 0 1 0 2.3 6

Totals 240:00 37-91 4-16 24-27 102 24-60 13 19 8 17 4 96.9 141

Mavericks M FG M-A 3-pt M-A FT M-A Tot. Pts. Reb. O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea. Avg. High Game

Marion 30:38 6-10 0-0 2-2 14 2-5 3 0 1 1 0 12.6 18

Nowitzki 39:38 11-26 1-2 5-5 28 1-6 4 2 0 0 0 27.1 41

Dampier 15:46 1-2 0-0 1-2 3 1-1 0 3 0 1 0 7.6 16

Beaubois 9:33 1-3 0-1 0-0 2 0-3 3 1 1 2 0 6.5 14

Kidd 39:03 8-16 5-8 1-2 22 0-6 11 2 4 2 3 7.4 22

Terry 33:02 3-7 1-4 0-0 7 0-2 4 2 1 1 0 18.5 35

Singleton 12:37 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 0-1 0 2 0 0 1 2.4 10

Gooden 28:49 5-10 0-0 5-6 15 6-10 0 4 1 0 2 8.9 22

Barea 30:54 4-10 3-6 0-0 11 1-3 6 2 1 3 0 8.6 14

Totals 240:00 40-87 10-21 14-17 104 11-37 31 18 9 10 6 130

1 2 3 4 OT F 2FG% 3FG% TFG% FT%

PHILADELPHIA 23 20 29 30 - 102 .407 .250 .889

DALLAS 28 29 21 26 - 104 .460 .476 .463 .824

Halftime: Dallas 57-43 . Third quarter: Dallas 78-72. Opponents' largest lead: points. Mavericks' largest lead: . Lead changes: . Team turnovers: Philadelphia , Dalllas . Attendance: xx,xxx (xx,xxx cap). Time: x:xx. Technical fouls: . Flagrant fouls: x. Officials: Mike Callahan, Olandis Poole, Derrick Collins.