NBA Playoffs 2012: Will the Dallas Mavericks Shock the World Again?

Well, this is certainly not last year's Western Conference finals. I mean, it's the same two teams—just completely different regular seasons.

You get my drift.

Either way, the NBA playoffs begin tomorrow and it's time for the Dallas Mavericks to take the court. The defending champions are about to embark on a journey that they've never experienced before—defending an NBA championship.

It goes without saying that this is nowhere close to last year's team that had the likes of Tyson Chandler, Caron Butler and J.J. Barea. This year's cast features many new faces, some of which haven't experienced a playoff atmosphere in a long time and others who are about to go through it for the very first time.

The Mavs' first-round opponent is someone very familiar to them—the team they beat in five games in the Western Conference finals last year: the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dallas comes in as the No. 7 seed in the West and OKC will have the home-court advantage for the first two series of the playoffs at No. 2.

While the Mavs may not have the presence of Chandler, the toughness of DeShawn Stevenson or even the heart and determination of Butler, they do have a plethora of key pieces in the rotation that can make them a dangerous group for Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Company.

For starters, Dallas will have a rested Jason Kidd, who sat out the final few games of the regular season. It's been obvious this year that when Kidd is healthy and playing at a high level, the Mavs are much more efficient and smart in knowing what to do in the offense.

The 39-year-old future Hall of Fame point guard is going to need his rest after racing up and down the court with the electrifying Westbrook, so this series is going to be dependent on if Dallas' guards can slow down the fast tempo of the Thunder.

Having sat out all of last year's title run, Rodrigue Beaubois has shown flashes of being the potential future of the Mavericks organization this year. He's taken much better care of the basketball and has made the best of his scoring opportunities by either going to the rim or hitting an open three-pointer.

Delonte West is also going to play a huge role, depending on if he starts or comes off the bench to spell minutes for Vince Carter.

West has shown that not only is he a tough defender and a rugged player, but that he can score the basketball. Since returning from his broken finger, West has averaged close to 13 points a game, including highs of 21 and 20 against Portland and the Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.

But, of course, we all know where our eyes are going to be focused on for this entire series—the great battle between Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki.

Depending on who you ask, Durant may be this year's MVP over LeBron James and no one will slight anyone in the least if they believe that the three-time scoring champion deserves the award.

Durant has the chance to become one of the most dominating scorers this game has ever seen, and organizations may need to start sending triple-teams his way in order to contain him. You can almost rest assured that Shawn Marion will be on him like Gorilla Glue.

There really is no need to discuss the impact that Nowitzki will have for this upcoming series, especially if you look at what he did to Serge Ibaka and Nick Collison last year. Dirk will get his touches and he will get his points. 

The question is, can the supporting cast do its job as well?

Nowitzki almost carried the Mavs by himself last year in certain points of the playoffs, and coming of a condensed regular season, he won't be able to do it all again. Role players like Carter, Brandan Wright and Jason Terry are going to have to be big when their names are called.

Don't look at this series as a No. 2 vs. No. 7 occurrence. No one can ignore the fact that these two teams played just last year. They aren't the same teams by any stretch of the imagination, but three of this year's four matchups came down to the final minutes in the fourth quarter with the Thunder winning all three.

Dallas needs to focus on closing games. It's a tough task when two of OKC's best players have the proverbial clutch gene in them. 

Overall, I see this series being as competitive as last year's. This time, the Thunder have the home advantage and you know that college-like atmosphere wants to see its team destroy Dallas in a seven-game series.

I see this series going six, but I see OKC edging out Dallas. I look for a split of the first two, then a split of the next two. OKC will win Game 5 at home and more than likely close in the sixth in Dallas.

All in all, saddle up and get ready. The Southwest region of this country is about to get a little crazy.

Which series in the NBA playoffs are you most looking forward to other than this one? Is there a certain team you're looking at very closely? Leave those thoughts in the comments as well.