Their first-round work done, Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks had the luxury Wednesday of taking a moment to think about how nicely things have fallen into place before their first game against the Denver Nuggets in the second round.
Trading young, emerging point guard Devin Harris and a first-round pick for aging, expensive Jason Kidd?
Firing Avery Johnson one season after being Coach of the Year, then replacing him with Rick Carlisle?
Trusting Josh Howard to grow up, get healthy and regain his All-Star form?
Right now -- in the afterglow of their first playoff series victory since the 2006 Western Conference finals, a drought that felt much longer than 0-for-3 because of how deflating those losses were -- all the moves the Mavs made over the last 15 months are looking pretty good.
"This is definitely a big step for us," Nowitzki said Tuesday night, after leading the Mavs to a series-capping victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Alas, the joy might be short-lived.
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Dallas will next face a potential matchup nightmare -- the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets took all four games from the Mavericks during the regular season -- the last they lost on March 27, 103-101.
Even though the Mavs lost all four games to Denver this season, they lost them by an average of 4.5 points per game -- so there is no reason to write the Mavs off completely in the second round.
At Mavs headquarters Wednesday afternoon, only the scouts and coaches had to worry about the next round. Players were away from the practice court, perhaps on their sofas savoring what they've done and envisioning what this No. 6 seed still might accomplish. After all, the club is 11-3 since March 31 (tied with the Lakers for the NBA's best in that span) and 17-1 at home since the All-Star break.
"Nobody is talking about us," Kidd said. "We're not even supposed to be here, so we should just go out and have fun and enjoy the moment."
Yet only so much. Nowitzki told everyone that by merely winning a series, or even two, "you haven't accomplished anything."
And he is right.
"We're trying to win a championship," Kidd said. "So we're taking one little baby step."
Small as it might be, at least it's in the right direction.
"It's more relief than pride, to be honest," Donnie Nelson, president of basketball operations, said Wednesday. "I don't think we can sit here and say we've arrived or we are proud of our accomplishment because there's still work to be done. But at same time, for a brief spell, you are happy with where you are at and you're looking to the future."
Since beating Phoenix in the '06 conference finals, the Mavs blew a 2-0 lead and golden opportunity for their first championship by dropping four straight to Miami in the finals. The next year, they wasted the glory of a 67-win season by losing to eighth-seeded Golden State, and looked in tatters during an opening-round series against Paul and the Hornets last April.
Kidd already was in Dallas for that series, but he was shackled by Johnson. The coach whose hard-driving ways led the Mavericks to great things like the finals and 67 wins had lost control and everyone knew it, especially owner Mark Cuban. So he fired Johnson, then he and Nelson focused on only one candidate: Carlisle, who took last year off after being fired by Indiana.
The Mavs lost their first four home games under the new boss and an overall five-game losing streak left them 2-7 in mid-November. Carlisle made all sorts of changes over the next few months and Dallas wound up winning 50 games for the ninth straight year.
A big reason for things falling into place was Carlisle figuring out how to mesh complementary players like J.J. Barea and Brandon Bass with his stars, and how to maximize energy guys like James Singleton and Ryan Hollins.
"That's a sign of a good team, when all 12 people contribute," Jason Terry said.
Howard picked up the most slack, leading the team in scoring in the Game 1 and 4 victories. It's a huge turnaround from this time last year, when he couldn't get in synch with Kidd and, off the court, he went from talking about his marijuana use on live radio to defying Johnson by attending a birthday party in his honor just hours after a playoff loss.
A chronic ankle problem took him out of the lineup for two 11-game stretches this season, and he missed more games with a wrist injury. But since deciding that ankle surgery will have to wait until the summer, Howard has finally become a force again. It's no coincidence the 11-3 roll Dallas is riding began with his return to the lineup.
"It's the playoffs," Howard said. "You can't come with your C game, you have to come with your A game."
The Mavericks and the Nuggets tip-off Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in Denver.
The rest of the schedule is as follows.
Game 2 is Tuesday May 5 in Denver at 9:30 p.m.
Game 3 is Saturday May 9 in Dallas at 4 p.m.
Game 4 is Monday May 11 in Dallas at 8:30 p.m.
Game 5 is Wednesday May 13 in Denver (TBD if necessary)
Game 6 is Friday May 15 in Denver (TBD if necessary)
Game 7 is Sunday May 17 in Denver (TBD if necessary)
