“Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”—Hesiod
This little bit of sage advice should be of particular importance to Dallas sports fans; In 2006-2007, the Mavs steamrolled their way through the regular season, before losing in six games to Don Nelson’s Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
That fall, the Cowboys went 13-3, sent an army of representatives to the Pro Bowl, and failed, like their hardwood counterparts, to escape the first round of the playoffs.
And as hard as it is to watch the Mavericks struggle as they did over the course of the season, they are, almost, exactly where they want to be; namely, in a playoff series with a team not named the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Beginning a home-and-home series with the Hornets on Friday night at the American Airlines Center, the Dallas Mavericks (dare I say) look like a dangerous dark horse in the west.
Coming off of two abundantly impressive wins over Phoenix and Utah, and with big man Tyson Chandler on the shelf for the weekend, Dallas has the opportunity to (more or less) turn the playoff picture on its ear.
Namely, with four games left, the Mavericks can control their playoff destiny, and land as far up on the seeding ladder as sixth.
"We're starting to play some pretty good basketball here late in the season," Jason Kidd said. "There's no better time than right now to start getting ready for that next step, and that's the playoffs."
It almost makes the nadirs of this season seem like mere growing pains for a team with a new head coach and a relatively new point guard. Almost.
Kidd went on to say, "It's a playoff type of atmosphere. They're a team we're trying to chase, so it starts tonight.''
Kidd is dead-on in his assertion. Considering that Dallas hasn’t won a game against Los Angeles or Denver in 2008-2009, the sixth spot, and a date with Houston, looks quite enticing.
The road begins, as our illustrious point guard pointed out, tonight, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The teams will meet again on Sunday afternoon.
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