Dallas Mavericks: Peaking At The Right Time

The Dallas Mavericks are advancing to the second round for the first time since 2006 after putting the San Antonio Spurs away rather effortlessly at AT&T Center last night.

Dallas built a lead as big as sixteen at one point, and they never looked back.

Six players for Dallas scored in double figures, lead by Dirk Nowitzki's MVP-like performance with 31 points and eight rebounds. Jason Terry played up to his label as the NBA's "Sixth Man" by pouring in 19 points off the bench.

The two-man show of Tony Parker and Tim Duncan was featured once again for San Antonio, as the two combined for 56 points (Parker 26, Duncan 30). Their third-leading scorer was Michael Finley, with just nine points.

Let's give the boys from Big D some credit, they are playing heady and mistake-free basketball right now. Of course, the matchup would not be so one-sided in Dallas' favor had Manu Ginobili suited up for the series, but in the end—a win is a win.

The Mavs will surely tune into tonight's Game Five matchup between Denver and New Orleans, in which Denver looks to pull the plug from New Orleans' turbulent season at home. Dallas will likely face Denver in the second round.

As irony may have it, second-seeded Denver is probably a safer matchup for Dallas rather than seventh-seeded New Orleans in a seven-game playoff series.

Even though Dallas did slightly better against New Orleans (1-3) than Denver (0-4) during the regular season, the history between these two teams is in New Orleans' favor, dating back to last year's first-round matchup.

Chris Paul is probably the most difficult point guard to defend in the NBA today. But when he plays against Dallas, he absolutely goes off on offense—like he's in a video game or something.

Dallas cannot guard New Orleans' pick-and-roll offense with Paul and David West at all, and they choose to leave Paul open for the mid-range jumper—so Paul buries it right in their faces.

Jason Kidd is a potential Hall of Famer in his own right, but in this day and age he cannot stay with Chris Paul.

A better matchup would be with Denver's starting point guard, Chauncey Billups. Billups is not nearly as quick as Paul, as he is closer to Kidd in age.

Billups tends to stay on the perimeter to set up his teammates and shoot three-pointers, therefore Dallas' interior defense would not need to worry about Billups driving it to the basket, like Paul does with reckless abandon.

Denver's main star player, starting small forward and ex-cornrows rockin', Carmelo Anthony could be flustered by Josh Howard's long, long arms in a man-to-man defense. 

Both players are members of the highly regarded 2003 NBA Draft class which included the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Who knows? Maybe Howard would want to hold his own against Anthony on the offensive end of the court. Anthony is the better player, no question, but Howard might want to send a message, as if to say, "Hey 'Melo, don't forget about me!"

J-Ho just needs to remember that a basketball game goes on for 48 minutes, rather than just 12 (Howard has a tendency to get off to quick starts in games, but falter down the stretch—he certainly has rectified this problem in the playoffs, however).

Kenyon Martin and Nene are certainly active and productive players for Denver nearly every game but how will they fare against big, burly, defensive-minded players such as Eric Dampier and Brandon Bass?  

Nowitzki needs to exploit any matchup Denver can throw at him on the defensive end, even if the Nuggets make Martin aggressively face-guard him. With his big frame, Nowitzki needs to take advantage of his size and ability in the mid-range game.

Hopefully, the ghost of Stephen Jackson won't bother him like it apparently did in the Golden State Warriors' historic first round upset of the Dallas Mavericks in 2007.

The productivity of each team's reserves will be critical as well. We all know how dangerous J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza can be from an offensive standpoint for Denver, so guys like the aforementioned Bass and Terry from Dallas must continue their outstanding play.

Well, there you have it. Those are the reasons why Dallas can matchup with Denver better defensively than New Orleans in the second round.

Of course, this is all speculation, because New Orleans has not been officially eliminated yet, but I have a good feeling their season will formally end tonight in Denver after taking a 58-point walloping at the hands of the Nuggets right in front of their home crowd two nights before.