Dallas Mavericks: What Will It Take for Dirk Nowitzki and Co. To Win NBA Title?

Dirk Nowitzki entered the league with the Dallas Mavericks back in 1998 and quickly blossomed into one of the league's best players, but he is yet to grab that elusive championship and his chances are running thin.

For a decade, Nowitzki has been one of the most consistent and reliable players, but with the exception of the 2006 Finals, Dallas has been unable to pull through in the playoffs.

The Mavericks have advanced past the second round in the playoffs only three times, despite winning at least 50 games every year since 2001.

It hasn't been from a lack of talent that his teams have been unable to reel in a title, either. He's played with the likes of Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Jason Terry, Antawn Jamison, Josh Howard, Caron Butler and Shawn Bradley (Bradley did lead the league every year in times posterized and most times tripping over his own feet).

Over the past decade, Dallas has had the unenviable task of playing the Western Conference, where they had to constantly duel with stacked teams—from the dynastic Lakers and Spurs, the seven-second offense of Phoenix and those "mid-level" teams which would have been nearer the top were they in the Eastern Conference.

Along with that, they had to deal with Avery Johnson yelling at them for four seasons. He may very well be a good coach, but having to listen to his voice from 2004 to 2008 would drive anyone out of their minds.

The biggest problem for the Mavericks is the fact that they have had to deal with some of the best big men in the league while residing in the West.

Shaq and the Lakers always created problems for the Mavs, as did David Robinson and Tim Duncan with the Spurs, Yao Ming and the Rockets and even Shaq once again for Phoenix—even though he was slowed and lazy. Shaq even came back to haunt them again in their only Finals appearance.

The biggest reason this always proved a problem for Dallas was their lack of a reliable starting center.

Since 2001, you could argue that the best big man that suited up for Dallas was Erick Dampier. After all, after Dampier, Dallas had Shawn Bradley, Raef LaFrentz, Evan Eschmeyer, DeSagana Diop and Jamaal Magloire play real time at the position. That's not exactly a recipe for success.

This year, however, they have Tyson Chandler anchoring the paint. He creates an interesting matchup for the opposition. If he gets the ball in the paint, he is almost always going to score. If he gets it away from the hoop, he has a sweet mid-range jumper. What's more, he has quite a few reliable low-post moves.

Aside from that, he is a capable defender who can rebound with the best centers in the league. His 10 rebounds a game in only 27 minutes, however, have been completely overshadowed by the efforts of Kevin Love and Zach Randolph.

One of the most important things about Chandler is the fact that if you foul him, he'll make you pay from the free-throw line, where he's reinvented himself over the past two years, shooting 76 percent from the line this year.

Besides Nowitzki, Chandler is arguably the most important player to the Mavericks and their chances of winning a title this season.

Other than that, Jason Terry continues to be one of the more underrated players in the league. He's scoring efficiently, continuing to play great man defense and has some of the best clutch stats in the league.

Dallas, as a unit, is one of the best clutch teams in the league. With Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, Dallas has three players with a plus-minus of 39 or better—and there are only four such players in the league. Then they have Chandler, who is plus-31.

Those four players are shooting 50.4 percent when there is less than five minutes left in a five point game.

There is nothing better than getting reps in the regular season with clutch play, as it always seems to come down to the final five minutes in big playoff games.

As it always seems to be in basketball, however, Dallas' chances come down to defense.

At times, Dallas can play quite stellar defense. They have individuals who are very good defenders, but as a team they tend to lapse from time to time.

They are allowing only 96.3 points per game, which is good for 10th in the league, but have been prone to giving up big runs periodically, which could end up being the downfall of any team.

Aside from the occasional defensive lapse, they are a team that does almost everything right. They don't turn the ball over very often, they don't commit stupid fouls and they have excellent shot selection.

If Dallas can buckle down on defense and stay buckled down, I see no reason why they can't end up hoisting the O'Brien Trophy at the end of the season.