SAN ANTONIO -- Halfway through an NBA season is a logical point to ask whether a team has met, exceeded or fallen short of expectations.

One problem, when it comes to analyzing the Mavericks.

"I don't think anybody knew what to expect," Dirk Nowitzki said.

With two starters coming off major surgeries, a new point guard with a history of health issues, a center who was available for a Gatorade cooler (as Nowitzki playfully says of Zaza Pachulia) and an ancient franchise icon who continues to stick his tongue out at Father Time, it was, for sure, difficult to set a bar for this team.

What would constitute success? Nobody really had a firm idea about that back in October.

Heck, after 41 games worth of clues, it's still fuzzy about where this team's ceiling is.

The Mavericks are moving along in fifth place in the Western Conference, which isn't bad.

But the only real certainty is that they've been equal parts enticing and confounding.

"There have been some ups and downs, obviously," Nowitzki said. "But besides the Warriors and Spurs, who doesn't have ups and downs?"

That's why the Mavericks are 23-18, which isn't bad, but pales when stacked next to last season's 28-13. It's worth noting that in the second half last season, they were a pedestrian 22-19.

Owner Mark Cuban views his team through rose-colored glasses, at least when it comes to his public commentary. But he has seen enough to know that the Mavericks aren't perfect. Nor are they close.

What they are is a team that can be very good at times but way south of average on other nights.

"What I like is we play up to good teams," Cuban said. "What I don't like is we play down to bad teams."

Devin Harris had a more revealing take.

"We're still learning about each other," he said. "But when we're together and we're on the same page, we're tough. When we're not, we're not."

Cuban actually said something similar.

"There are times when we go into a scoring slump, particularly against bad teams, and everybody starts to play hero-ball," he said.

That's not conducive to a team being a well-oiled machine.

The Mavericks are in the throes of a four-game stretch against terrific teams. They lost at home in overtime to Cleveland, then got blown out at Oklahoma City before showing a good deal of backbone in winning at Chicago on Friday.

Now they start the second half of the season at San Antonio, where the Spurs have yet to lose this season.

This is a brutal stretch. Winning one of these four games doesn't make it a success. But it could have been worse.

And if the Mavericks learn a little more about themselves and what they're capable of, that's an intangible that will help them down the line.

But even if they don't know exactly what their personality is or how good they can be yet, what the first half of the season has done is put them in position to have a pressure-packed second half.

"I feel like we can still go to another level," Deron Williams said. "From outside, [people] may think things are good. But I think we can play better basketball, more consistent basketball."

At the least, they have debunked the notion that they would have to scrap, claw and overachieve just to be a playoff team, much less vie for home-court advantage to start the postseason.

Not that Nowitzki blamed anybody for those assessments.

"There were a lot of question marks coming in," he said. "But I think we've been grinding. Coach [Rick Carlisle] is obviously one of the best in the business, and he puts us in position every night to compete and gives us a chance to win every night.

"It's a tough league. We just got to keep plugging, finish strong before the All-Star break and if we stay healthy -- that's always a big issue for us -- then we'll see what we've got and see if we can make a run at it in the second half."

And while they are at it, the Mavericks absolutely have to win their share of the tough games coming up.

Starting against the Spurs would be a forceful statement.