Salt Lake City ? Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sat alone behind a concrete pillar in a far corner of the visiting locker room, his elbow on his knee and his fist buried under his chin in the classic pose of The Thinker.

The words came out in a whisper from an owner who still roots as though he were a fan rather than an employer, a man whose team’s season-long hold on the NBA’s best record has slipped away.

“Well, it doesn’t take me two days to get over a loss anymore,” Cuban mused dejectedly.

Losses are piling up, relatively speaking, for the team from Texas that sat atop the league for the first 162 days of the season.

Consecutive road losses to the Lakers, Suns and Jazz have dropped the Mavericks to second place in the Midwest Division, and they have all but lost hope of regaining the top spot in the conference before the regular season ends Wednesday night and the playoffs begin next weekend.

All season long, coach Don Nelson and many of the players have freely acknowledged that they weren’t really the league’s best team, they merely had the best record.

The recent slide has confirmed that self-diagnosis, leaving the Mavericks a confidence-challenged team that has a greater chance of getting knocked out of the postseason early than making a serious run at the championship.

“We beat the teams we’re supposed to beat, but we’re not successful against the best teams,” guard Steve Nash said. “We’re still a team that’s trying to ascend to its peak.”

Indeed, the Mavericks have gained their lofty position in the standings in large part by beating up on the lesser teams.

Dallas went 20-0 against the worst of the worst — Denver, Chicago, Cleveland, the Clippers, Memphis, Miami and Toronto — but was 1-3 against the Lakers, 1-2 against the Spurs, 1-3 against the Kings and 2-2 against Portland, Minnesota and Utah.

Hardly the makings of a track record that scares anyone.

Dallas Mavericks Eduardo Najera, left, and Dirk Nowitzki watch the waning moments of the Mavs' 108-99 loss Tuesday to the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant of the three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers was asked last week which opponents from the West are held in the highest regard.

“I think San Antonio and Sacramento are probably tied. They’ve both accomplished so much,” he said. “Dallas, in a lot of ways, still has to prove themselves in the playoffs. San Antonio has done it before, not quite with the nucleus that they have now, but they’ve done it before. Sacramento, they’ve paid their dues somewhat.”

Bryant’s coach, Phil Jackson, echoed that sentiment by praising the Spurs for their chemistry and the Kings for their depth. Of the Mavs, he merely noted that “they’ve played great percentage ball.”

Dallas had the league’s best record for so long in large part because of its 14-0 start that was one victory shy of the NBA record for consecutive wins to begin a season. The Mavs were 15-1 at the end of November, 25-5 entering the new year and 36-9 entering February.

In April, however, the Mavericks’ record was only 2-4 entering Saturday night’s game against Golden State — the only game among their final 11 against a non-playoff team. The three-game losing streak matched their longest of the season.

“You can disrespect us a little bit because we haven’t done that well against the good teams, and that’s a legitimate thing to write about,” coach Don Nelson said. “But the job we’ve done against the under-.500 teams, and making that a priority and getting the most out of our team, I think that’s the job coaches have to do — max out whatever skill level you have, and run the best things you can run dictated by the skill level on your team. If you can’t throw the ball in to a big guy, you do other stuff.”

For the Mavericks, that means pushing the tempo, utilizing Nash’s creativity and taking jump shots — lots of jump shots.

Outside shooting is the strongest skill of both Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, who along with Nash give the Mavericks a trio of offensively gifted players. When the Mavs run and get open shots, they can pile up the points.

The Mavericks’ recent slide can be blamed partly on the absence of Finley, who missed his 14th consecutive game Saturday night but was expected to return Monday against Seattle.

“Let’s see what happens when we get our third guy back,” Cuban said. “The Lakers can get it done with two great players, Shaq and Kobe. We need three.”