NEW ORLEANS – The easiest target when dishing out accountability for the Mavericks' first-round playoff loss is the off-court distractions.

Crazy radio interviews about marijuana and the opposing team's coach, a players-only practice that didn't set well with Avery Johnson, not to mention the unsettled state of the team after the Jason Kidd trade, all had the potential to derail the Mavericks.

But nothing bothered them as much as what they didn't do on the court, which was play their best game often enough to be competitive in a 4-1 series loss to New Orleans.

"Consistency," Jason Terry said. "How do you play a game like Game 3 [ a 97-87 victory]? Where did it come from? We were inconsistent with every facet of our game. It's an area we had trouble with all season long."

The Mavericks didn't shoot well all series. They had trouble getting quality shots. And when they got them, they couldn't make them.

New Orleans, which closed the deal with a 99-94 win Tuesday, shot nearly 49 percent for the series.

The Mavericks finally played with a sense of playoff urgency in the second half of Game 5. But by then, it was too late. Devean George had 11 fourth-quarter points to spark a rally that came up short.

"We couldn't get our game right at the right time," he said. "It's all about playing well at the right time. We just didn't do that.

"It's hard to say about off-court distractions taking their toll. I've been on teams that have had way more drama than this, and they were just fine. We just didn't hang onto our game plan long enough. We lost focus for too long."

Dirk Nowitzki, however, said that the playoffs are such a fragile time that every distraction can be a problem.

"Obviously, very disappointing with what happened here in the playoffs with everything," he said. "Bad timing. In the playoffs, it's time to just concentrate about basketball and focus on it – not let any distractions come up. You know, I still try to keep them all together, make everyone play as hard as they can, but it wasn't good enough."