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It's pretty easy to understand why the Mavericks turned in a lethargic performance Friday night against Miami.

They took one look at the D-League lineup the Heat put on the court and decided it wouldn't take an optimum effort to win their 22nd game.

After all, the Heat is the worst team in basketball.

Period.

Most days, you can debate whether Minnesota, Miami or the New York Knicks are NBA's worst team, but injuries to Shaq (knee bursitis) and Dwyane Wade (shoulder) kept them off the court against the Mavs.

Until one of them returns, the Heat is without doubt the league's worst team. We all know it's human nature to relax when a bad team doesn't have its best player – let alone its top two players.

And that's just what the Mavs did.

So they didn't bother to defend the lane or talk on defense, while settling for too many jump shots, the result of poor ball movement.

"We weren't really sharp tonight," said Dirk Nowitzki, "and that's what's been missing all year – the intensity."

How embarrassing, as the Heat took as much as a 10-point lead early in the third quarter with a backcourt comprised of some dude named Chris Quinn and first-round pick Daequan Cook, who wasn't good enough to start at Ohio State as a freshman last year.

The Mavs played better in the second half, but by that time, the Heat had convinced itself it could win. The Mavs never seized control of the game but snuck away with a 94-89 victory after Miami made only 5 of 16 shots and committed seven turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Of course, that's what bad teams do. They self-destruct at winning time.

Frankly, it's hard to believe this raggedy collection of players acquired by Pat Riley beat the Mavs in the NBA Finals less than two calendar years ago. It should make the Mavs who played in that well-documented debacle two seasons ago physically ill every time they think about it.

Riley has no one to blame but himself for the Heat's rapid demise, because his personnel moves since the championship have been horrendous. He let quality role players such as James Posey and Eddie Jones, who scored a season-high 17 points Friday night, leave via free agency.

The Heat couldn't afford to keep Jason Kapono, who signed a four-year deal with Toronto, and Riley traded Antoine Walker and a couple of bags of magic beans for Ricky Davis and a spare part.

In the offseason, Riley signed Penny Hardaway, an over-the-hill former star, and Smush Parker. Neither made a difference, and Miami released Hardaway last month.

It didn't help when Alonzo Mourning, the team's heartbeat, suffered a season-ending injury in December. And Shaq, if you can believe it, has been essentially a non-factor all season, in part, because he has been in poor shape.

When you win a title, it's supposed to signal the start of a run that lasts four or five years as an elite team. The Heat wasn't even considered an elite team the year it rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Mavs.

They were a dysfunctional bunch known as much for in-fighting as winning basketball games. But in the NBA Finals, Wade played the series of a lifetime, refused to let his team lose and watched the Mavs implode.

Enough about the past, though.

The Heat's current status begs the question argued at your favorite watering hole at least once a week, regardless of sport.

Is it better to have a brief moment of greatness like the Heat and win a title? Or is it better to be like the Utah Jazz with Karl Malone and John Stockton and have a decade of 50-win seasons without getting a title?

Give me a title. It'll help me sleep better when the losses gnaw at me. Besides, the memories never fade.

The Mavs aren't the Jazz yet, but they're moving into the conversation. The Mavs have won 60 games in three of the last five seasons.

There's no question they're one of the NBA's elite teams, but they have no hardware to show for it.

A couple of years ago, the Mavs would've sold their collective souls to be the Heat and have a title next to their name. Now, there's no way any of the players would want to be wearing one of those black and red uniforms.