Dallas Mavericks: Should the Mavs Rest Their Players in the Final Two Games?

Despite a number of instances where they looked more like a team that didn't know how to play basketball than the defending NBA Champions, the Dallas Mavericks are back in the NBA playoffs and will indeed defend their title this year.

The Mavs clinched their 12th-straight playoff appearance when the Houston Rockets lost to the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday and further strengthened their grasp on the No. 6 seed in the West by beating the Golden State Warriors earlier tonight.

Now for the $64,000 question: do the champs rest up for the playoffs?

Dallas plays two more games before closing out the season, as they play the Chicago Bulls tomorrow and the Atlanta Hawks next Thursday. These are two teams that are still playing to secure their positioning in the Eastern Conference.

As it stands, the Mavs hold a one-game lead over the Denver Nuggets for the seventh seed and a 2.5-game lead over the Phoenix Suns for the eighth spot, and both of those teams have three games left to play, including a game in Phoenix tomorrow night between the Nuggets and Suns.

In short, Dallas has a one-game lead that decides whether or not they play the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Los Angeles Lakers.

A lose-lose situation, if you will.

Here are two ways to look at it: with two games against two contending East teams, playing and attempting to get some wins under the belt would be a great confidence-boost as they enter the playoffs. But resting up avoids any freak injuries towards the end of the year, and the Mavs can enter postseason play, hopefully, at full health.

There's nothing wrong with looking at either situation, but the logical idea would be to rest up and get ready for either OKC or the Lake Show. The risks of that are extremely high, with a great chance of Dallas falling back to eighth when all is said and done and ending up facing the San Antonio Spurs, unless Phoenix loses tomorrow against Denver.

That means that Dallas could finish seventh, at worst.

Head coach Rick Carlisle did a great job of managing each player's minutes in the win against the Warriors.

Delonte West: 33 minutes
Jason Terry: 28 minutes
Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion: 27 minutes 
Jason Kidd: 22 minutes 

With Rodrigue Beaubois back in the rotation, Dallas is now back at full health and can utilize their athletic and talented bench against whoever they face.

They can't afford to lose anyone this late.

What do you think? Should the Mavs rest up or keep playing to make a statement and gain confidence heading forward? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.