Mavs held hostage  Did Ross Perot Jr. strike out when Tom Hicks
bought the Rangers?  On January 6, the Dallas Mavericks ended a
15-game losing streak in front of a crowd team officials said
hovered around the 9,000 mark--though, in truth, no more than
half that number bothered to show up at Reunion Arena for this
clash of last-place titans, the Mavs versus the Denver Nuggets.
The weather was bad; the basketball, worse. The game had all the
excitement of a junior-high playoff tournament. It was so quiet
in Reunion, you could hear a player think.  Among those hearty
souls in attendance was Mavericks' owner Ross Perot Jr., wearing
a "Yes! Let's build it" button on his dark suit and a grim look
on his tight face. Perot sat courtside about 30 seats away from
Mayor Ron Kirk, with whom he exchanged not a single word, at
least in public.  Junior watched the game with blank passion:
His team had won, but it was a hollow victory. Even assistant
coach Donnie Nelson, son of coach-general manager Don Nelson,
said after th