Sad-iators rattled, 49-42

Adam Candee

Monday, May 23, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.

Technically speaking, a team has to first show up for a game before losing it.

Looking like they never truly boarded the plane back from Los Angeles, the Gladiators settled Sunday back into their comfortable and familiar home of mediocrity. In a game they needed to win just for a shot at a playoff berth, Las Vegas fell behind 14 points fewer than five minutes in and conveniently took the guesswork out of its playoff situation with a 49-42 loss to Arizona at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It's the third consecutive 8-8 record for the Gladiators. In the past two offseasons, they have changed first their starting quarterback and then their head coach. And the only playoff berth the franchise has won in Las Vegas came with the deposed quarterback and coach in 2003.

Of the team's core, offensive specialist Marcus Nash and fullback/linebacker Frank Carter headline just six players currently under contract for next season.

"There's definitely room for improvement in every area," Gladiators coach Ron James said. "If there wasn't, we'd be a playoff team."

Needing a win against Arizona and a loss by San Jose or Chicago to make the postseason, the Gladiators went 0-for-3. They already knew San Jose had won before they played, but those few TV sets around the Thomas & Mack tuned to the Chicago broadcast during the Gladiators game were quickly flipped to the NBA playoffs after a final comeback attempt failed late in the fourth quarter.

To bounce back would have been nothing short of miraculous considering how poorly the Gladiators started. They turned in their worst offensive performance of the season with quarterback Clint Dolezel at the helm, scoring just one touchdown in the first half on offense.

Dolezel struggled all day with accuracy, completing just 26 of his 50 passes. Although he hooked up with offensive specialist Marcus Nash for eight catches and 120 yards, the duo looked mostly out of sync for the first time in recent memory.

"That's the first time I've been like that in a long, long time - many years," Dolezel said. "I don't know what to attribute it to. That was probably about as lifeless as I've seen us."

James echoed the sentiment, but anyone who saw the Gladiators stunned and silent in the locker room after losing at Los Angeles nine days ago understands that they left any emotion they possessed on the Staples Center field when they relinquished control of their own playoff fate.

"Offensively, we were just flat," James said. "We hadn't been that way in weeks. I was very surprised that the team didn't come out of the locker room with a little bit more emotion going into this."

The Gladiators recovered from their poor start to pull within a touchdown six different times. They had the ball with a chance to tie late in the fourth quarter, but failed by turning it over on downs. They later needed an onside kick recovery with 15 seconds left, but didn't get it.

"I haven't seen us like that before," Dolezel said. "We didn't execute at all."

Now comes the speculation. Some published reports have speculated on James' future, although neither owner Jim Ferraro nor general manager Dan Dolby has specifically called it into question.

"My future will be determined by other people, so I can't worry about my future," James said.

Dolby said the team will announce its plans for its coaching direction within a few days. He then must turn attention to free agents, beginning with Dolezel. Brought here two years ago in a trade from Grand Rapids, Dolezel's contract is up and he plans to explore free agency.

"It's dumb for me not to go out and see what I'm worth because I've still got several good years left in me," Dolezel said. "It would be silly for me not to go out with some new teams coming in, maybe a chance to get closer back to home being in Texas for my family purposes."

Dolezel added that he is not leaning toward anywhere "more than Las Vegas", even though he will not sign within the team's exclusive negotiating period through June 30. The team has plenty of other players to focus on in the meantime.

"I really believe we have some great core players that we can build the future on," Dolby said. "But we also need to infuse some young, raw talent to develop not only next year but for future years."

Asked if the team would tweak its roster or overhaul it, Dolby said it would likely be "somewhere in the middle." Despite twice failing to reach the playoffs with mostly the same group, Dolezel does not feel any major changes are needed.

"Your teams that are so good right now - your San Joses, your Arizonas - they've been playing together forever," Dolezel said. "That's it. Two years is not forever. Some of those guys have been playing together for 10 years. This doesn't happen overnight."