While Rick Carlisle prefers to look at the Mavericks as a 2-1 team - their record since that nasty 0-5 start to the season - the fact is that they still are in a major hole that could get deeper with a road-heavy schedule looming.
So why is Justin Anderson smiling?
The second-year swingman with the glass-half-full attitude believes that better days - much better days, in fact - are ahead for the Mavericks. All it takes is a little bit of belief and the return of some players they expected to lean on heavily this season - namely Dirk Nowitzki and Deron Williams.