Champs Dallas disappoint

NBA champions Dallas looked nothing like the team that lifted the trophy last June as they stumbled to a second defeat in as many nights on Monday, this time to the Denver Nuggets.

Denver hammered the Mavericks 115-93, a day after Miami Heat routed them in their Christmas Day season-opener in a rematch of last season’s final series.

Dallas trailed Denver 97-68 after three quarters and were down 33 points in the final period.

“Obviously, we look out of shape,” said Dirk Nowitzki, the Most Valuable Player of the NBA finals.

“That’s a bad combination. I still think this team has a lot of potential. We just need to work.”

The extended lockout that delayed the start of the season until December has every team struggling to hit their stride with little pre-season preparation as the compressed 66-game schedule means each team faces a more demanding fixture list than normal.

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are getting an early taste of that intensity with three games in as many days to open the season.

They lost the first by one point to Chicago and the second a day later in a 100-91 defeat to Sacramento.

Now they must try to regroup for their home game against Utah.