NEW ORLEANS - The Dallas Mavericks, having just beat the Portland Trail Blazers the night before at AAC, just couldn't keep things clicking in New Orleans, as they were out-worked and out-muscled to the tune of 132-106 by Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and the rest of the Pelicans on the second night of a back-to-back.

As Fish writes here in his "Like A Poke In The Eye'' game story, there are "reasons'' for such a loss ... but we should not mistake "reasons'' for "excuses.''

Meanwhile, in a scene that I assume was not shown on TV or noted elsewhere, DallasBasketball.com, here at the gym in the Smoothie King Center, got a bit crossways with one another on their own bench.

On a night where the Mavs were without Dennis Smith Jr., who re-aggravated his wrist at the end of the Portland game, frustrations mounted about halfway through the third quarter, as the Pelicans turned a 77-66 lead into a 92-67 thrashing in less than three minutes of play. From my view behind the bench, head coach Rick Carlisle was very upset with the defensive performances of rookie Luka Doncic and veteran center DeAndre Jordan. Doncic was the first guy to get pulled from the game at the 5:54 mark of the third quarter with the Mavs down 17 points. Jordan was pulled about a minute and a half later after he had the ball stolen from him by the Pelicans' Jrue Holliday, leading to an easy dunk to put the home team up by 25 points.

After pulling both players from the game (neither saw the floor again for the rest of the game, which, again, was a blowout), Carlisle seemed to be having a discussion of sorts with both Doncic and Jordan. And although I couldn't make out word-for-word what was said, I can pretty much guarantee you that it was about both players' defensive performances, as Carlisle was on their tails about that all night long.

After their discussion, Doncic and Jordan assumed their spots on the bench, several seats apart from each other, both still steaming from what had transpired. And I'll be honest: When I first noted the incident unfolding, I thought about all the Doncic/Jordan rumors that had surfaced a few weeks back about how they might have some sort of issue with one another -- "rookie hazing'' or whatever -- but upon further review, I believe this was just a case of a couple of guys being frustrated after getting their butts kicked in only three quarters of play on the road. (Also worth noting is the calming contribution of assistant coach Jamahl Mosley.)

In fact, I'll argue that these Mavs being steamed about the way this game played out is better than some of the alternatives -- meaning, at least they care. The fact that Jordan and Doncic both seemed upset on the bench at the same time was likely as much about that as anything else. Nobody likes being barked at by the boss ... But you can't blame Carlisle for doing his thing here as he oversaw the overwhelming frustration.

Jordan had his worst game as a Maverick on Wednesday night, as DFW native Randle (27 points, 17 rebounds) and Davis (27 points, nine rebounds, five blocks and a career-best nine assists) took turns feasting on DJ and Harrison Barnes. Jordan scored just two points and grabbed seven rebounds, while also committing four turnovers and being a minus-16 for the game in just 24 minutes played.

Doncic finished with eight points, six assists and four rebounds while being a minus-8 for the game. ... and shooting jsut 2-of-8 while trying to serve as a point guard in Smith Jr's place.

Although both guys experienced rough nights that ended well before the fourth quarter started, and while DallasBasketball.com finds our observations worth noting, I don't think there is anything to be alarmed about here. The guys were playing bad, and the coach was chewing them out their lackluster defense. It happens. As all eyes shift to Saturday's AAC meeting between the Mavs and the Rockets, Dallas will have three days to re-charge and re-group (there's no practice today) after a frustrating loss that dropped the team to 12-11 on the year.

"We had a bad game," said Doncic after experiencing his first ever back-to-back. "We'll just move on to the next one." ... and hopefully move past any lingering emotions from Wednesday night as well.