NEW YORK -- Late in the first quarter, when Brooklyn turned an early three-point deficit into a 12-point lead, it became apparent that the Mavericks were swirling down the commode to their eighth loss in 10 games since the trade deadline.

All but one of the defeats have been by double-digits, but Monday night's 127-88 loss at Barclays Center was especially ugly. It was blatant of an example of a team that stopped competing.

This rout was by far the Mavericks' worst of the season, numerically and aesthetically. Making this effort, or lack thereof, even worse was that it came just two nights after Dallas' previous-worst defeat of the season, by 30 at home against Memphis.

Two losses in three days by a combined 69 points.

"It was ugly from start to finish," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "When you lose every quarter of an NBA game, you certainly haven't done what you need to do. It's a very disappointing night."

The Mavericks' locker room remained closed to reporters well after the NBA-mandated 15-minute cooling off period. And when Carlisle did emerge, he gave instructions that the locker room not be opened to reporters until he finished his postgame remarks.

So what was Carlisle's message behind closed doors?

"Private," he said.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was in the locker room after the game. When he emerged, The News asked him whether he had addressed the team. "No," he said.

What was the postgame message?

"Gotta play harder," Dirk Nowitzki said.

"There's no message, really," guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said. "We got blown out. We got our butts kicked. Everybody's very disappointed. We're going to go to practice with a different mind-set and a competitive fire.'

Who spoke?

"Coach Carlisle took the whole floor," Hardaway said. "That's what it is and we're behind what he says."

When the Mavericks before the Feb. 7 trade deadline traded four-fifths of their starting lineup for, essentially, injured Kristaps Porzingis and $30 million of salary cap space, only the most optimistic fans had hopes that Dallas could fare better than tread water the rest of the season.

Mavs are 2-8 since the trade deadline. Of those 8 defeats, 7 have been by double-digits. The one that wasn't was a 9-point losses.



The eight losses have come by an average of 18.25 points, and in those games Dallas has allowed an average of 119 points. — Brad Townsend (@townbrad) March 5, 2019

Other fans openly began rooting for the Mavericks to tank and improve their odds of finishing fifth or higher in the draft lottery, which is the only way for the team to retain, for 2019, the first-round pick it traded to Atlanta in the Luka Doncic draft-day swap for Trae Young.

Cuban, president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and Carlisle all are on record as saying the Mavericks absolutely, positively, are trying to win this season.

On this night, though, there wasn't much "try" as the Mavericks fell to 27-36 and lost for the seventh time in their last eight games.

After shooting 30.6-percent against Memphis, the Mavericks "improved" to 35.6-percent against the 33-33 Nets, who earned their biggest rout of the season and their biggest in 39 seasons of playing Dallas.

And it could have been worse. Brooklyn led by 44 with 7:27 left.

"We're not shooting the ball well, unfortunately, at all, even wide-open shots and layups, and I think that deflates us a little bit," Nowitzki said. "And then our defense is not great.

"They went at us today. They drove. They got layups. They hit all their threes. It should be the other way around. Our defense should be solid."

Playing perhaps his last game at Barclay Center, Nowitzki started 0-for-10 from the field and, in a scene reminiscent of what happened in Boston early this season, fans loudly cheered for him to make one.

He finally did. Then another. Both to rousing cheers.

For the Mavericks, though, this night was nothing to cheer about.

Twitter: @Townbrad