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Mavs standing at crossroads

If they lose, Mavs will have been there, done that; but if they win ...

[By David Moore / The Dallas Morning News]

SAN ANTONIO – The Mavericks have enough on their plate without worrying about the historical and psychological significance of Game 7.

Concerns over stopping Tim Duncan and an increasingly disruptive Manu Ginobili tend to shove these metaphysical matters into the background. But there it hangs, like so many banners at the AT&T Center.

This is a critical juncture for the franchise. A Mavericks win over San Antonio won't signal a shift in the balance of power in the Western Conference. But it will put an end to the imbalance that exists.

After wandering the desert for nearly a decade – a long time for Mavericks fans, but still a better deal than Moses got – the team returned to the playoffs six years ago. The Mavericks are 5-4 in playoff series since.

The Spurs are 13-3 with two championships.

The Mavericks met the Spurs in the Western Conference finals three years ago. The Mavs lost, 4-2. San Antonio eliminated them 4-1 two years earlier.

No matter how many changes the Mavericks have made through the years, and it's been a lot, they can't get past the Spurs.

"I think it's year by year," Ginobili said. "I really don't care what happened three years ago when we played them or if they lost last year. I just don't care. If it's Dallas, the Lakers or Nuggets, I just want to win because I want to win a championship."

Ginobili is entitled to feel this way because his team always beats the Mavericks. He should try life on the other end.

Michael Finley knows. Earlier this season, when the Mavericks and Spurs were locked in a race for the division title, Finley was asked the difference now that he played in San Antonio. The former Mavericks guard said he could look down in the standings rather than up.

This isn't a rip. It's reality.

San Antonio has won five division titles in six years. The Mavericks have none. The one season (2002-03) the Mavericks and Spurs finished with the same record, San Antonio earned the edge on a tiebreaker.

As if having Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker isn't enough.

Finley believes the Mavericks have undergone so many changes that beating the Spurs won't provide a cathartic release for the franchise.

"I don't think the past has a lot to do with the present," Finley said. "I could see if the coaching staff was still the same. I could see if the players were still the same. Then you could feel the anxiety of wanting to beat the Spurs.

"The only person on that team who has been beaten by the Spurs over the years is probably Dirk [Nowitzki]. He is the one guy who feels the pain of not getting over the San Antonio hump."

But he is the key guy. How long can Nowitzki continue to lose to the Spurs and not develop a complex? If Avery Johnson doesn't have any more success against San Antonio than Don Nelson had, how do you think he'll handle it? The validation Johnson craves is to beat the franchise he helped lead to a championship.

The Mavericks have pulled even with San Antonio, but they haven't pulled ahead. Until they do, they will be the annoying little brother the Spurs pat on the head, praise occasionally then dismiss as they go about their business.

"There is some kind of rivalry because of the Texas thing. And this year, the race was amazing to No. 1, so that created a little rivalry," Ginobili said. "Besides that, we're just two good teams playing each other."

Right now, the Mavericks are nothing more than a good team that challenges the Spurs from time to time.

Tonight will show if that has changed.