The NBA's seventh-longest winning streak of all time came to a crashing end Monday night, when the Dallas Mavericks endured a 117-100 thumping at the hands of former coach Don Nelson and the Golden State Warriors. It was Dallas' first setback in 18 games and just its third loss in the last three months.
Now that the Mavericks' streak has ended, the hottest team in the NBA is the once-forgotten San Antonio Spurs, who won their 13th in a row Tuesday night following a 93-84 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
With the 52-10 Mavericks and the 49-14 Phoenix Suns pacing the cutthroat Western Conference this year, many left San Antonio out of early-season discussions regarding possible 2007 title contenders, despite the team's winning two of the past four NBA Championships. The Spurs' recent run certainly allows them to rejoin the ranks of the NBA's elite.
The squad's improved play on the defensive end of the floor has been instrumental in propelling its streak. San Antonio has yielded fewer than 85 points in nine of its last 13 games and has held opponents to just 89.6 points per game over the course of the season, the best clip in the NBA.
San Antonio, however, might have been expected to string together a winning streak given the competition it has faced over the past month. Two of the victories on the Spurs' 13-game run have come against the New Jersey Nets, who at 30-35 are struggling to make the playoffs in the hapless Eastern Conference. Of the six Western Conference foes San Antonio has encountered during its streak, just one - in-state rival Houston - currently holds a winning record.
The Spurs also shouldn't encounter serious resistance in extending their run into April. From now until the time San Antonio hosts Phoenix on April 5, it will face three teams who sit in last place in their respective divisions - the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, and Seattle SuperSonics - and just two clubs who are currently above .500: the Detroit Pistons and the Utah Jazz.
Even with all its success, San Antonio has been unable to make up much ground on the teams it trailed in the Western Conference. When the Spurs began their winning streak, they sat in fourth place in the vaunted West, behind Dallas, Phoenix and Utah. Although they have since lapped the Jazz, the Spurs have picked up just two games on the conference-leading Mavericks, leaving San Antonio a distant seven games back of the top spot in the West.
The Spurs are still in contention for the conference's second seed, even though they have gained just 1.5 games on the West's current No. 2, Phoenix, with their 13-game run. The early April showdown against the Suns will be pivotal, as the victor will hold the head-to-head tiebreaker between the teams.
San Antonio will need to continue its winning ways not merely to move up in the Western Conference standings but also to maintain its hold on the third spot. Sitting just 2.5 games behind the Spurs in the No. 4 spot are the Jazz, who, prior to last night's game at Orlando, had lost just three of their last 17 games. Whichever team winds up with the fourth seed in the West will likely have to face Houston, with a healthy Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, in the first round of the playoffs. The team that can grab the third spot would currently face the quickly fading Los Angeles Lakers, who have lost six games in a row.
Perhaps the greatest indicator of whether San Antonio can compete with the West's upper echelon teams for a spot in the NBA Finals this season will be its April 15 clash against the Mavericks in the final week of the regular season. The Spurs, who fell to Dallas in an epic seven-game series in last year's Conference Semifinals, have won just one of their three meetings against the blistering Mavericks this season. A Tax Day-victory over Dallas may help San Antonio make a louder statement than anything that has come from its 13-game surge.
