Dallas — Three words are all that need to be used after the Dallas Mavericks’ 2009-2010 season came to an abrupt halt Thursday night.

Fire. Rick. Carlisle.

Often times Dallas sports fans want their coaches fired if they don’t win a championship in the first couple of years, and knee-jerk reactions are my specialty, so I fit in with the majority of the crowd.

While I am probably out of line with most of my knee-jerking, but this call to arms to Mavs’ Owner Mark Cuban is warranted.

Carlisle can’t coach his way out of a paper bag and San Antonio head coach Greg Popovich obviously showed in the six-game series why his Spurs have won four championships in the last 11 years.

The Mavs’ bring in Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from the Washington Wizards to stir the pot and provide much-needed depth.

They were also brought in to relieve Erick Dampier of his starting duties and to send knucklehead Josh Howard on the 8:15 flight to Washington as soon as possible.

The move gave the Mavericks 13 wins in 14 games with the new lineup and gave all of us Mavs’ maniacs hope that the disappointment of the 2006 finals against Miami would be zapped from our short-term memory.

False.

The only thing the trade and the Mavs gave to the fans is another letdown.

But I blame this hearty failure on one man and one man alone: Rick Carlisle.

So, here are few good reasons to say ‘Yes, Man’ to jettison this Jim Carey fraud.

1. Erick Dampier — The one common denominator to the end of the 13-game winning streak and the sub-par way the team ended the season. With Dampier in the lineup, the Mavs were 10-7 after the trade and 13-1 without him. Not to mention they were 1-4 against the Spurs in the series. He did not play Game 5, a win for the Mavs.

So, without Dampier playing at all since the trade the Mavs never lost a game (I don’t count the loss because it was the first game the Mavs played with the new lineup). Dampier just took up space against San Antonio.

He was 0-of-8 from the floor, scored five points (all in Game 1) and averaged 6.6 rebounds per game. To me, that’s not good enough for someone who spent an average of 23.8 minutes per game on the floor in the playoffs.

2. Rodrigue Beaubois — This flashy rookie has been a huge spark for the Mavericks in the regular season. He scored a career-high 40 points against Golden State on Mar. 22. He also had games of 24, 22, 17 and 16, which all resulted in wins for March.

“Roddy B.” scored 16 against San Antonio Thursday night in what appeared to have the Mavs on a miraculous comeback after scoring just eight points in the first quarter.

Finally, Carlisle had made the right move.

He put in the spark plug in Game 6, but then he took him out and the Mavs wilted away and boom goes the dynamite on the Mavs’ season.

3. Caron Butler — The key ingredient to the February trade did not play in the second half — nor did Brendan Haywood for that matter — in Game 3. The Mavs faltered in that one as well in San Antonio and Carlisle thought the smaller lineup of J.J. Barea, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry would suffice and get the job done. The price was wrong, Rick.

4. Brendan Haywood — The better, more athletic, younger and quicker Erick Dampier. Haywood started Games 5 and 6, and the Mavs won the fifth installment thanks to aggressive defense by Haywood against Tim Duncan and his ability to crash the boards. Here’s another stat for you. Since the trade, the Mavs were 18-3 in the regular season when Haywood played at least 24 minutes. They were 5-4 when he recorded less than 24 minutes, that’s including three games in which he played a combined seven minutes due to a back injury, so in essence, the Mavs were 2-4 with Haywood having diluted minutes.

Hmm....2-4? That sounds awfully familiar right now, doesn’t it?

Mr. Cuban I propose a new investment for you.

Me.

Sports fans always believe they could coach better than the guy at the head of the program. But in this case I truly believe I could have led the Mavs to the conference semifinals.

I can be the new Wunderkind for your little Mavericks if you would like.

Or not.

It’s obviously up to you, but this is my official application for employment for the Dallas Mavericks’ head coaching position because you need a new coach.

“The Dallas Mavericks are coached by Stephen Monahan...”

By golly, that would have quite the ring to it hearing that over the PA system at the American Airlines Center.