Dirk Nowitzki hates losing. However, he hates it even more when his team loses at home to a team who lost its superstar during the game.

"It's a game we can't lose," Nowitzki said of the their 119-112 loss to the Los Angele Clippers that played in most of the second half without premier point guard Chris Paul who suffered from shoulder a injury.

 "Can't afford to lose that one. The way we let those games slip away, I don't think we're a playoff team. We've got to win those games. We've got to find a way to get those stops and protect the home court."

The 2002 FIBA World Cup MVP is also referring to the games wherein they blew a huge deficit, allowing opponents to comeback. The Mavs lost 17 point lead to the Atlanta Hawks, 18 to the Golden State Warriors and 19 to the Toronto Raptors, all leading to heart-breaking defeats.

"It just always comes down for us to getting stops and rebounds," Nowitzki said. "If we don't, we're in trouble. If you look at the numbers, we scored 112 [and] we shot over 50 percent. There's no way we should have lost that game."

"We've got to do better. We knew coming into the season that we were going to be challenged on rebounding and defense. We've got to try harder."

The Dallas Mavericks are currently in eighth spot in the Western Conference standings with 19-14 win-loss record.

In another news, Nowitzki expressed his disappointment over referees who he say do not respect him. He is complaining about officials' failure to call in many instances that he thought he was fouled.

On the first one, I got fouled again," Nowitzki said. "I don't know how many times I got to say it. The refs keep missing them tipping my elbow. But it is what it is."