[kriD]

Time is right for Mavs' spring break

RANDY GALLOWAY
In My Opinion
Star-Telegram

Admittedly, the NBA is an acquired taste, kind of like raw oysters.

For years, some of my college basketball-junkie friends have delighted in pointing out the league's biggest moment is also its worst.

That would be the playoffs, of course, when the games normally evolve into slow-mo, low-scoring sumo wrestling matches. Real boring stuff.

Rebuttal to that taunting has been difficult, particularly since coaches who want to put an entertaining product on the floor -- say, Big Nellie, or the guy with three first names, Mike Dan Tony, or, yes, Avery Johnson -- are routinely ridiculed at playoff time.

But are you currently paying attention?

Even as an NBA advocate, I've got to admit to being pleasantly shocked.

The first round of the playoffs has suddenly been transformed into the first round of March Madness.

This is fun, this is totally unpredictable, this is high-grade entertainment, and all this is working -- I think -- in favor of the Mavericks.

That's the irony, that the Mavs are not involved at the moment in providing the entertainment. It's a team that still does that with the best of 'em.

But the first-round kill of Memphis was so quick and clean, the Mavericks are now on the NBA version of spring break.

For all the deserved butt-patting of Avery for his commitment to an upgraded defensive product, this man still wants an offense that motors.

Ask anyone, or any local dog, within earshot of Avery's most constant high-pitched Cajun yelp on the sidelines during games.

"Push it. Push it."

But the NBA fun goes on this week without the Mavs.

They wait and watch, particularly the one ongoing matchup of local intrigue.

Down San Antonio way, the Spurs struggle and philosophize.

That's more than a first-round push the Sacramento Kings are giving the Spurs.

This is fear. Fear of being ousted in the first round. That was unthinkable a week ago.

Reading the San Antonio Express-News on Wednesday, there was Coach Pop, about as good as it gets in postseason competition, joking that his team would have been better off dumping games to get the No. 4 seed.

After what the No. 4-seeded Mavs did to Memphis, and how difficult the No. 8-seeded Kings have been for the Spurs, maybe Pop wasn't joking.

The Spurs had to stone-cold sweat out a Game 5 home-court win Tuesday night, taking a 3-2 series lead. But Game 6 is Friday night in Sacramento. No one, not even the Spurs, would be surprised to see a Game 7 on Sunday.

So the Mavericks might be waiting until Tuesday to make the short hop south to open the second round. Unless, of course, the unthinkable happened.

But this leads to the obvious question.

Is it best to be resting for a week between series, or as the Spurs are now trying to spin it, is it better to be pushed hard in the first round?

"This is making us dig deep, and these dig-down games can help you," said the Spurs' Bruce Bowen, following a standard theme in the locker room.

Of course, the players are being grilled on their situation as compared with the Mavs' R&R. Everyone in San Antonio is awaiting the second-round showdown with the Mavericks, so the worry factor is climbing rapidly.

But on Wednesday I went to Don Nelson with that "what's best" question, because through nearly five decades as a player and coach in the NBA, he was involved in every known playoff scenario.

When asked, Nelson hooted.

"It's not even close," he said. "Having some added time off this time of year is all good. It's nothing but good. That's what rest is all about in the playoffs.

"Almost every team that wins a championship has either had a sweep or the series only went five games in the first round. [Until recently, the first round was best-of-five.] You don't want it to go beyond five if you can help it, particularly with a lot of travel thrown in, and the Spurs are in a series with a lot of travel."

Nelson is careful when describing what he's seeing from the Spurs in this first round. It's a team coached by his close friend, Gregg Popovich.

"It's about the same as it was in the regular season," Nellie said. "Some options that Pop had in the past he doesn't have now because of injuries or other factors.

"Sacramento and Bonzi Wells are showing us some things about the Spurs' interior defense that we haven't seen in the past. And when the Spurs once needed 35 or 36 points from [Tim] Duncan, they could get it. I don't know about now, due to his health."

Meanwhile, the Mavs wait and watch.

Despite what's been heard from the Spurs, it sure seems like the best situation.