With 24 games left in the season, the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs are tied for the best record in the Western Conference at 46-12. And with room for only one team at the top, the stakes are high.
Since the two Texas teams are both in the Southwest Division, the team that fails to win the division will fall to fourth in the West, despite having the second-best record. Due to the NBA's three-division playoff system, the three division leaders earn the top three seeds regardless of whether their records rank in the top three in the conference.
As of Sunday, the Mavericks and Spurs are five and a half games ahead of the Phoenix Suns in the West. While the Suns are not far below the two Texas teams, the Denver Nuggets, at 15 games back from the division leaders, are slotted to get the third seed right now with a 32-28 record.
This quirk in the NBA playoff system magnifies the importance of the Southwest Division race. A handful of games could be the difference in whether these teams open the playoffs as the eighth seed or the fifth seed.
San Antonio and Dallas met head-to-head on Thursday, and the Spurs erased an early 12-point deficit to beat the Mavericks 98-89. Tony Parker scored 23 points in the game, but it was Bruce Bowen's lock-down defense on Dirk Nowitzki, who hit six of his 15 shots, that sealed the win. Bowen also contributed on the offensive end by hitting all three of his field goals and all four of his free throws.
After beating the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, the Spurs now own a six-game winning streak. They have been playing well despite a struggling Tim Duncan, who is battling a nagging foot injury. Duncan's 22 points against the Blazers marked the first time that he crossed the 20-point mark in the last 13 games.
Duncan is now averaging just 19.1 points per game, marking the fourth year of decline in his scoring. The Spurs will likely look for opportunities to rest Duncan for the playoffs, like the Miami Heat are doing with Shaquille O'Neal. But the Spurs desperately need a victory over the Mavericks, and this could limit opportunities to rest Duncan.
Heading into Thursday's game, Dallas had also won six consecutive games. But unlike San Antonio, Dallas is enjoying big contributions from its seven-foot star, as Dirk Nowitzki has led the Mavs in scoring in the last five games, averaging 25.1 points a game this season. Perhaps his most impressive statistic, however, is his 1.88 turnovers a game, a low number for an offensive focal point. With his recent contributions and the Mavs' play as of late, the memories of Nowitzki calling out his teammates in Dallas's ugly playoff loss to the Suns are starting to fade.
Still, Nowitzki's struggles in the game against the Spurs hurt his team. San Antonio now leads the season series 2-1 with one game remaining, which is to be played in San Antonio. As a potential top seed, they could ensure not only a matchup against a weaker team in the first round, but also a homecourt advantage.
This is the second year in a row that the NBA's playoff system has been controversial. Last year, the Boston Celtics earned the third seed by winning the weak Atlantic Division, despite the fact that their 45-37 record was worse than that of the Chicago Bulls and equal to that of the Washington Wizards. The fact that the Celtics hosted the Indiana Pacers, whose place just one game behind Boston in the standings, saved the NBA the embarrassment of having the team with a worse record host the series.
