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If Dirk Nowitzki can't play in it, he's darn sure going to watch the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks' oldest rival and their newest.

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Mavs F Dirk Nowitzki says he's too old to stay with a rebuilding franchise but couldn't imagine himself leaving the city of Dallas. Listen

The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder tip off on Sunday night. Who's Dirk got?

"I think San Antonio's going to do it, just because they've got one more home game," he said during Tuesday's appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's "Galloway & Company." "They really came on strong late in the season and they snatched home-court advantage away from OKC. So, I got to think just by that there is a little slight advantage. But honestly, both teams are good enough to win on the opponent's floor, so I would give a slight advantage to San Antonio, but, man, OKC is looking really good."

He should know. The Thunder rode the Mavs out of the first round in four games, handing Nowitzki the wrong side of the broom for the first time in his career.

Nowitzki's had his classic battles with the Spurs, including the amazing Game 7 in the 2006 semifinals that propelled Dallas to its first NBA Finals. It was a Spurs team that still included the Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, yet, as Nowitzki pointed out, it is an entirely different style of ball those boys are playing these days, and the reigning NBA Finals MVP says all credit goes to this season's Coach of the Year, Gregg Popovich.

"To me, he's the best coach in the league, he's a genius on both ends of the floor," Nowitzki said. "The adjustment that he goes through -- at the beginning they win all their championships with defense, and he saw where the game's going; the game is going to free-flowing and more movement, you need basically four shooters on the floor at all times, and he's the man, he made it all happen.

"With [general manager] R.C. Buford helping him, finding people left and right. I mean, they draft people in the second round that nobody gives them a shot and they turn them into players. They have an amazing franchise and they really do a great job finding people that play well in their system and Pop makes them believe in their system. They're really fun to watch, they're rolling."

Dirk said he's ready to get this series going now, but unfortunately we'll have to wait until the end of the weekend. So, he's got the Spurs getting back to the NBA Finals for the first time in five seasons, but he's looking for the thing to go the distance, strictly from an entertainment standpoint.

"It's going to be spectacular. Hopefully, it's going to be a long series and we can all watch some great basketball," Nowitzki said. "The whole thing is full of great matchups. Just off the bench with Ginobili and [James] Harden going at it, the two point guards, obviously [Russell] Westbrook was phenomenal against us all series, but Parker is having a phenomenal year, probably in the prime of his career and Duncan is still looking really good this year. And now they got another week off to rest everybody.

"So, it's going to be an incredible series to watch."

Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel opened the season by imploring his team to become an unselfish, ball-movement offense like the champion Dallas Mavericks.

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Ben and Skin discuss the three most important figures for the Rangers, Mavs, and Cowboys. Who is the most vital to the ultimate success of each organization? Listen

But when he told his team Sunday prior to its Game 4 against the Miami Heat to pass like champions, he was probably talking more about the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs, winners of 18 in a row and headed back to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2008 after sweeping the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, have put on a clinic this postseason in championship passing. No team is throwing the rock around with such exacting precision and spectacularly devastating results.

Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are combining for nearly 12 assists a game. Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson are combining for more than seven. And that still leaves five or so assists unaccounted for.

The Spurs' dynamic and often artistic offense -- the only one generating more than 100 points a game in the playoffs (102.5), better than three more points a game than their likely West finals opponent Oklahoma City Thunder -- has reminded just what the re-tooled Mavs lost in a year's time.

Dallas was the No. 1 passing team in the Western Conference last postseason and the best of the four 2011 conference finals teams, having averaged 20.1 assists a game. The Spurs are blowing that mark out of the water, averaging 24.1. They've assisted on 193 of 308 baskets (62.7 percent) in eight playoff games and they were even better in the just completed sweep of the Clips, assisting on nearly seven of every 10 buckets (107 of 154, 69.4 percent).

During this truncated regular season, the Mavs were rarely at full strength -- including the game's all-time second-leading assist man Jason Kidd missing multiple games three different times with back, calf and groin injuries -- and finished 15th in assists. And they regressed further in the four-game sweep at the hands of the Thunder.

The Mavs rank 15th among the 16 playoff teams in assists. Kidd averaged 6.0, but only Jason Terry (3.8) averaged more than 2.0 a game as the team averaged just 15.5 assists in the four games. OKC, not known as a high assist team led by high-scoring point guard Russell Westbrook, out-assisted the Mavs on average by two a game.

San Antonio, meanwhile, is whipping the ball around which such proficiency that no one else is even close. The Celtics rank second at 21.9 assists a game led by triple-double threat Rajon Rondo. The Spurs' two playoff victims averaged 6.25 fewer assists a game, and that includes perennial All-Star point guard Chris Paul.

Of course, players have to make baskets for assists to be racked up. And no one can match the Spurs in that category either. Even Mavs owner Mark Cuban prior to the start of the playoffs questioned whether the 3-ball-happy Spurs could live that way in the postseason. They can and have. San Antonio is killing it from the 3-point arc to the tune of 42.3 percent with six players shooting at least 43 percent from downtown. The Clips are the next best at 37.8.

Overall, San Antonio is shooting a whopping 49.1 percent with the resurgent Duncan hitting running hooks and jumpers from seemingly every angle for a team-best 54.0 percent.

The Mavs shot the 3-pointer fairly well in the first round (37.2 percent) but overall made just 40.4 percent of their shots, not terribly far off from their disappointing regular-season shooting of 44.3 percent that ranked 19th in the league.

Players always say they don't care who they face to open the playoffs. Don't believe it.

Brandan Wright, for one, knows which one of the three options still open he wants no part of when he makes his postseason debut this weekend, and for good reason.

The slender, 6-foot-10 forward-turned-center in this successful maiden season with the Mavs has no interest in a first-round pairing with the Los Angeles Lakers. The former lottery pick doesn't fear the purple-and-gold. He just wants to play.

Coach Rick Carlisle has made it clear that there's little room on the floor for the 210-pounder -- dubbed by some the Human Exclamation Point for his skinny frame and ridiculous bounce -- when L.A.'s 7-foot, 285-pound Andrew Bynum is the giant he must guard.

Unless...

"I wish we allowed steroids because he’d be the perfect case," Mavs owner Mark Cuban joked. "That’s not going to happen."

No, it's not. The Mavs have benefited from Wright's energy, quickness, soft hands and ability to finish at the rim (he's shooting 62.4 percent), so losing minutes to circumstance would be unfortunate. Starting center Brendan Haywood will be forced into large minutes against the Lakers, like the 38 he logged in the most recent meeting. In the five games since, Haywood has played between 14 and 21.

Wright got nine minutes in that April 15 overtime loss, mostly when Bynum took a breather. However, Wright's final minute of action in the fourth quarter with Bynum in illustrated the mayhem that matchup can cause. He slapped at Bynum for an and-1 and then got dunked on from behind by a monster Bynum putback.

"I believe he has to get on the floor because he poses a different threat against a team like the Lakers," said guard and alley-oop partner Jason Terry. "First of all, he’s going to outrun their bigs and he’s going to use his athletic ability. So he’s a factor, he’s a factor."

Not surprisingly, Wright, only 24 and healthy really for the first time in his career, concurs.

"I agree 100 percent with Jet," Wright said. "I feel like I can be a factor on the court no matter who we play. In a couple days we’ll be finding out who we play and I’m going to be doing the best I can no matter who we do play."

If the Mavs move back into the No. 6 seed at season's end Thursday night, the Lakers will be the matchup at No. 3, assuming they hold off the Clippers. At No. 7, Dallas will face No. 2 Oklahoma City Thunder. The San Antonio Spurs locked up the top seed with Monday night's win.

How has Wright fared in four games against the Lakers? One DNP-CD, 4.3 points, 2.0 rebounds in 12.0 minutes (17 minutes in one game with Haywood out) and 50 percent shooting, well below his season average.

In four games against the Thunder, Wright played in one. He rode the bench on Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 and missed the finale in March with a concussion. The one game he did play on Feb. 1 served as his launching pad for rotation minutes the rest of the season and as an attention-grabber for the Thunder. With Haywood out, Wright played 25 minutes and posted 12 points and three blocks, but only a lone rebound, a glaring area of inconsistency in his game.

"His rebounding is getting better, his rebounding in traffic is getting a lot better," Cuban said. "If he was bigger where he could hold his position, his post-up moves are just phenomenal. Around the basket he's an incredible finisher."

Wright remains a developing player. His 48 games this season are nine more than his previous career high in 2008-09 with the Golden State Warriors, the team that drafted him in the lottery five years ago. They tired of his injuries and traded Wright to New Jersey last season.

"I feel like I’m still a young player, still got a lot of years left in this league to do a lot of good things," Wright said. "That’s the way I look at it. Maybe the first couple of years I have to prove myself that I am a lottery pick, but after that just go out there and play the game."

That's hard to do though if you can't get on the court with any consistency, and that's the threat the Lakers pose.

"Rick is a smart coach. He’ll use him where it makes sense to use him, right?" Cuban said. "We have a history of playing to our strengths and where matchups work, we take advantage of them. He’s not going to be a good matchup against Bynum, but there’s areas for him. If he’s making hard cuts and hard rolls to the basket, then it might be that we have the advantage because he’s so quick."

The advantage just might be in not facing the Lakers.

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: Idle Dallas can check the San Antonio Spurs off its list of potential first-round playoff foes. The Spurs walloped Portland to clinch the No. 1 seed, which also locked the Oklahoma City Thunder into the No. 2 seed. If the Mavs, who don't play until Thursday, stay at No. 7, they will face the Thunder with Game 1 at OKC this weekend. A move up to No. 6 likely draws the Lakers, with the Clippers still in the hunt for the No. 3 seed.

MONDAY'S GAMES
Spurs 124, Trail Blazers 89: San Antonio clinched the No. 1 seed in winning its eighth consecutive game, all by double-digit margins.

Grizzlies 109, Cavaliers 101: Six Grizzlies scored in double figures as they kept hope alive for the No. 4 seed and homecourt advantage.

TODAY’S GAMES
Clippers at Hawks
Kings at Thunder
Suns at Jazz

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Thunder

The Mavericks clinched the franchise's record 12th consecutive playoff berth with Houston's loss to New Orleans on Thursday night.

THE GOOD: Los Angeles Clippers (currently No. 4)

How they have played: The Mavs are 1-2 against the Clips, who won the first matchup at home, 91-89, without Chris Paul. But Dirk Nowitzki shot horribly, Mo Williams went off for 26 points and Chauncey Billups (out for the season) hit a game-winning buzzer-beater. The Mavs took the second game at home, 96-92, with both teams healthy with the exception of Billups. Dirk didn't shoot well again, but went 11-of-15 from the line. The third game might have been the Mavs' most disappointing performance of the year. They failed to show up, shot 39 percent and were embarrassed on the boards in a 94-75 home loss.

How Dirk has played: Nowitzki shot just 38 percent in the three games, but he's getting to the foul line a lot. Blake Griffin's athleticism always creates a tough matchup and defensive specialist Kenyon Martin adds an edge the Mavs are quite familiar with from his Denver days. The numbers don't tell the whole story though. Only Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood and Shawn Marion started all three games against the Clips.

How the Mavs will fare: Most agree this is probably their most favorable matchup, but nothing is a lock for the defending champions. If Dallas wants to move into the second round, they'll have to be on their toes when it comes to transition defense and find a way to get others beside Nowitzki involved in the offense.

THE BAD: Los Angeles Lakers (currently No. 3)

How they have played: The Mavs are 0-4 against the Lakers, but three of those could have gone either way. Shawn Marion is as good as anyone in the league checking Kobe Bryant, but the Pau Gasol-Andrew Bynum connection has averaging 36.8 points a game Injuries skewed games for both teams. Bryant's best game, a 30-point performance in the 109-93 win in Dallas, came with Marion sitting out.

How Dirk has played: He's averaging a double-double with 24 points and 10.3 rebounds, but shooting just 30 percent from beyond the arc.

How the Mavs fare: This matchup heavily rides on the health of Kobe. Nothing will keep him out of the playoffs, and he is expected to return on Friday. But if his sore left shin continues be a problem, the Mavs might catch a break. If he comes back healthy and refreshed after averaging a whopping 38.5 minutes a game, don't count on much rust from the league's leading scorer. Even if he does struggle with his shot, Gasol and Bynum have played lights-out against Dallas.

THE UGLY: Oklahoma City Thunder (currently No. 2)

How they have played: The Mavs are 1-3 against the Thunder and the ugly fact that the youthful Thunder found ways to pull games out late is concerning considering the Mavs prided themselves on such heroics during their championship run, and especially so against OKC in the West Finals. Kevin Durant stole the first meeting with a 3-point buzzer-beater at OKC in third game of the season. The Mavs looked great in one of their best all-around wins of the season, 100-87, soon after in the second game at home. The Thunder returned to Dallas a month later and returned the favor. But the Mavs were severely shorthanded without Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood and Lamar Odom. Durant and Russell Westbrook struggled in the season finale, but the Thunder defense shut down the Mavs in the final minutes to win at OKC.

How Dirk played: Nowitzki was solid if not spectacular against the Mavs' Red River rival. He shot 44 percent and averaged 22.5 points per game. We haven't seen him be "championship Dirk" consistently this season, but the German torched the Thunder for 32.2 points per game in last year's playoff series.

How they fare: The Thunder have struggled late in the season, and losing the top seed to San Antonio wouldn't be any help to their momentum. The Mavs have held Westbrook and Durant below their season averages in scoring. The problem is that no one but Dirk can score consistently against the Thunder.

THE UGLY II: San Antonio Spurs (currently No. 1)

How they have played: It's hard to imagine the Mavs are 2-2 against San Antonio because Dirk has not played well in three of the four games. The Spurs embarrassed Dallas 93-71 in the first game without Manu Ginobli and with a barrage of 3-pointers, which became a theme against Dallas. In the final game of the series, a shorthanded Spurs squad did it again to the Mavs by 17 points, playing without Tony Parker. The Mavs coughed up a huge lead in the second game at home and won in OT after Danny Green's buzzer-beater was reversed by replay and the game went to an extra five minutes.

How Dirk played: In the third game of the series, a 106-99 win, he had a team-high 27 points. In the other three games, he scored 10.6 points per game on an abysmal 13-of-46 shooting.

How they fare: The Spurs have successfully mixed young, athletic newcomers with the Big Three and have arguably been the most consistent team in the NBA. Jason Terry has been great against the Spurs this season, but they'll need Dirk to find his rhythm to get past this potential first-round foe.

UPDATED: 9 a.m., Friday.

The Dallas Mavericks clinched a playoff berth Thursday with New Orleans' win over Houston. Now attention turns strictly to seeding and matchups.

With the Mavs (35-28) -- back in action tonight for their home finale against the Golden State Warriors -- and Denver Nuggets (34-28) in a virtual dead heat in the Western Conference standings and both teams now two games ahead of the trailing Utah Jazz (33-30) and Phoenix Suns (33-30) in the loss column, the jockeying between the two is coming down to the sixth and seventh seeds.

Which would the Mavs prefer? As the seventh seed the Mavs know their travel will be light to play the No. 2 seed. They'd start the playoffs either north of the Red River at the Oklahoma City Thunder or on the River Walk at the San Antonio Spurs. The sixth seed will face the No. 3 seed and likely head to Los Angeles to face Kobe Bryant's Lakers. Chris Paul's Clippers lost Thursday at Phoenix, a hit to their chances of moving up and Memphis remains a long shot.

"It doesn’t matter at all," Jason Terry said of which seed the Mavs finish. "We've just got to get in. One more game and we solidify one of those three spots and and we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a helluva playoffs. If I'm a fan I'm sitting here waiting. I can’t wait for the next week and a half to be up."

Jet can just about forget about the eighth seed. The Mavs hold the tiebreaker on the Nuggets, Jazz and Suns.

So which team, the Mavs or Nuggets, hold the upper hand to finish in sixth? Well, it depends just as much on how those two teams approach their final games after playoff berths are locked up as it does on their opponents' approach.

For instance, the Mavs could face a Chicago Bulls team Saturday night intent on finishing with the best record in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks on Thursday could still be dueling with the Boston Celtics and/or Orlando Magic for the No. 4 seed and homecourt in the first round.

Here's the breakdown of schedules for the Mavs and Nuggets:

Mavs (winning percentage of opponents: .573)
Fri: vs. Golden State (22-39)
Sat: at Chicago (47-15)
April 26: at Atlanta (37-25)

Nuggets (winning percentage of opponents:.554)
Sat: at Phoenix (32-30)
Sun: vs. Orlando (36-26)
Wed: at Oklahoma City (45-17)
April 26: at Minnesota (25-38)

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: The Mavs are back in the sixth seed, a half game ahead of the Nuggets and in possession of the tiebreaker. Dallas is two games ahead of the Jazz and two and a half games ahead of the Suns and Rockets.

WEDNESDAY'S GAMES
Mavs 117, Rockets 110: Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter of the Mavs’ critical comeback win.

Clippers 104, Nuggets 98: Chris Paul had 21 points and eight assists as the Clippers won their fifth straight to pull within a half game of the Lakers for the third seed.

Grizzlies 103, Hornets 91: Rudy Gay scored 26 points as the Grizzlies clinched their second consecutive playoff berth.

Lakers 99, Warriors 87: Andrew Bynum had 31 points and Pau Gasol had a 22-11-11 triple-double.

Spurs 127, Kings 102: The first-place Spurs rolled to another rout while Tim Duncan rested.

Jazz 112, Trail Blazers 91: Ex-Maverick Devin Harris hit a career-high six 3-pointers during a 27-point performance to help keep Utah’s playoff hopes alive.

Thunder 109, Suns 97: Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner James Harden scored a career-high 40 points for Oklahoma City.

TODAY’S GAMES
Rockets at Hornets
Clippers at Suns

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Lakers

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: Nothing changed for the Mavs, who are in seventh place, a half game behind the Nuggets. The Rockets and Suns are a game and a half behind the Mavs, and Utah is two games behind Dallas.

TUESDAY'S GAMES

Grizzlies 91, Timberwolves 84: Rudy Gay had 28 points as the Grizzlies handed the Timberwolves their 11th consecutive loss.

Spurs 112, Lakers 91: Tony Parker had 29 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes as the first-place Spurs got revenge for a recent rout by the Lakers. It was the Spurs’ 18th win in their last 21 games.

TODAY’S GAMES
Hornets at Grizzlies
Rockets at Mavericks
Thunder at Suns
Jazz at Trail Blazers
Spurs at Kings
Lakers at Warriors

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Thunder

We take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: The Mavs slipped to seventh place, a half game behind the Nuggets. The Rockets and Suns are a game and a half behind the Mavs, and Utah is two games behind Dallas.

MONDAY'S GAMES

Jazz 123, Mavs 121 (3 OT): Dallas missed a chance to throw a knockout punch to the Jazz’s playoff hopes, running up the Mavs core players’ minutes in the process.

Spurs 120, Warriors 99: San Antonio cruised to a win over Golden State’s summer league squad to take over the West's top spot.

Clippers 92, Thunder 77: The Thunder fell out of first place after managing to score only 25 points in the second half.

Nuggets 105, Rockets 102: Arron Afflalo scored 26 points to lead the Nuggets to their fourth win in five games.

Suns 125, Trail Blazers 107: The Suns shot 60 percent and had six players score in double figures to move into the eighth seed.

TODAY’S GAMES
Grizzlies at Timberwolves
Spurs at Lakers

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Thunder

Lamar Odom's awful season will eventually be forgiven around here, especially if the Mavericks can put together a spirited title defense in a couple of weeks.

But it's likely it won't be forgotten for some time. That's how pitiful his four months in Big D turned out to be.

Odom was banished from the Mavs after last Saturday's game at Memphis, departing after averaging a career-low 6.6 points in 50 games this season. With the Lakers last season, the Sixth Man of the Year averaged 14.4 points in 82 games. The 7.8 points per game difference, according to ESPN Stats & Info is tied for the third-largest dropoff from last season to this season.

Stephen Jackson, now finding new life with the San Antonio Spurs, is the winner of the biggest scoring average dropoff at 8.4 points per game. Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche is next, down 8.3. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley is tied with Odom at 7.8.

Part of Odom's offensive dip, ESPN Stats & Info discovered, has been a result of fewer attempts inside 10 feet of the basket. Odom took nearly 60 percent of his shots from inside 10 feet last season, but took just under 44 percent of his shots from such distances this season.

The most notable stat is that Odom had just five dunks this season compared to 45 last season.

We’ll take a look at the games that impact the West playoff picture each morning for the rest of the regular season.

Mavs' spot in the standings: They’re sitting in seventh, a half-game behind the Rockets and a half-game ahead of the Nuggets. Dallas is 1 ½ games ahead of the Suns and two games ahead of the Jazz.

SUNDAY'S GAMES

Spurs 114, Jazz 104: Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combined for 51 points in the first-place Spurs’ 11th straight win. Utah guards Earl Watson (knee) and C.J. Miles (calf) left the game due to injuries.

Thunder 91, Raptors 75: Oklahoma City went on a 24-0 run in the second half to turn a close game into a comfortable win.

Rockets 104, Kings 87: Courtney Lee scored 25 points to lead the Rockets in point guard Kyle Lowry’s return after missing 15 games due to a bacterial infection.

TODAY’S GAMES
Lakers at Hornets
Thunder at Bucks
Clippers at Grizzlies
Warriors at Nuggets
Suns at Timberwolves
Spurs at Jazz
Rockets at Trail Blazers

If the playoffs started today: Mavs vs. Thunder

SAN ANTONIO – The spotlight after Friday night’s loss to the Spurs was on the Mavericks power forward who didn’t play.

Good thing for the guy who logged 37 minutes at the position for the Mavs.

“I had a brutal night,” Dirk Nowitzki said.

That description was accurate, unlike the vast majority of Nowitzki’s jumpers at the AT&T Center. The perennial All-Star had perhaps his worst performance since his early-season struggles, scoring 16 points on 5-of-21 shooting and grabbing a grand total of two rebounds.

Nowitzki missed his last 13 shots from the floor. He scored only four points in the second half, all on free throws.

“I actually felt good at the beginning of the game,” Nowitzki said. “Just during the game, I couldn’t get the ball up in there. They were short. Wide-open 3s were even short. I just didn’t have enough to get the ball up today.”

Added coach Rick Carlisle: “We have to work on getting him some cleaner looks. But he had some that he normally makes that he didn’t make tonight.”

Dirk didn’t have a rebound until the fourth quarter. While he attributed the off shooting night to heavy legs, Nowitzki made no excuses for such a poor performance on the glass.

“That’s my bad,” Nowitzki said. “I don’t care, you can always box out and rebound.”

A few more notes from the Mavs’ second straight lopsided loss to a Western Conference contender:

1. Matrix’s return: Want some good news? Shawn Marion's left knee didn’t bother him in his return from a three-game absence.

“I felt good,” Marion said. “Once I got out there, I was able to stay warm and keep my body going. That’s pretty much it. I got a little winded there a couple of times, but for the most part, my wind was pretty good.”

Marion was one of the more productive Mavs, scoring 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting in 31 minutes. He did a more than respectable job defending Manu Ginobili, who had 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting and seven assists.

2. Custodian’s dirty work: Brian Cardinal made his mark on the game – or on Tim Duncan’s face, at least.

“The Custodian” was called for a flagrant foul when he inadvertently raked Duncan in the face, sending the Spurs legend sprawling to the floor. That was the only statistic recorded by Cardinal in 4:20 on the floor, during which the Spurs outscored the Mavs by 10 points.

As you might imagine, Cardinal wasn’t exactly a popular guy at the AT&T Center, drawing the wrath of the Spurs faithful. Duncan shrugged it off after the game – “That’s just basketball,” he said – but San Antonio’s Stephen Jackson had some choice words for Cardinal.

“To me, it was a dirty play,” Jackson told the San Antonio Express-News. “When you can’t play no more, I guess all you can do is go out and try to hurt people.”

3. Kidd’s birthday bummer: The Spurs spoiled Jason Kidd's 39th birthday.

For a few minutes, it appeared it might be a storybook birthday celebration for Kidd, who got the hot hand from 3-point range to briefly give the Mavs the lead in the third quarter. Kidd ended up with an unusual line in the box score for him: 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, seven rebounds and only one assist. It’s only the second time in Kidd’s career he had only one assist while playing more than 30 minutes.

Nevertheless, Kidd did have one good reason to celebrate.

“I’m still in the thirties,” Kidd cracked.

How it happened: A magical blend of Dirk Nowitzki, defense and depth carried the Mavs to the franchise’s first title last season. Dallas was dreadful in each of those departments Friday night at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs, playing without All-Star point guard Tony Parker, had plenty to do with that, physically dominating Dallas while playing a beautifully skilled game.

However, Nowitzki had arguably his worst performance since his horrific start of the season. He finished with 16 points, but he made only five of 21 shots from the floor. He was an embarrassing liability on the glass, grabbing only two rebounds.

Nowitzki’s night ended after he was whistled for a technical foul with 2:04 remaining, when he vented some frustration by shoving Kawhi Leonard in the back. Lamar Odom still didn’t take off his warm-ups, collecting his first DNP-CD of his extremely disappointing season.

With Dallas center Brendan Haywood sitting out his fourth consecutive game due to a sprained right knee, the Spurs punked the Mavs in the paint. San Antonio had outrageous edges of 54-34 on the boards, 21-7 in second-chance points and 50-16 in points in the paint.

The Mavs’ bench, a longtime strength, was severely outplayed for the second consecutive game. Jason Terry had 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting, and the rest of the Mavs bench contributed only five points.

What it means: The Interstate 35 rivals split the season series, as the Mavs and Spurs both held serve on their home courts in the four meetings between the longtime Western Conference contenders. While the Spurs sit comfortably at second in the West standings, the Mavs are in jeopardy of dropping out of the top eight as they head to Houston for the butt end of a back-to-back. Dallas is part of a six-team pack within one game of each other fighting for the final five seeds.

Bold play of the game: Gary Neal ran off a couple of screens, caught the ball and fired over scrambling 7-foot Nowitzki. Neal didn’t call glass, but that’s the way the 3-pointer went down. The lucky bounce capped a 12-0 run at the end of the third quarter that gave the Spurs the lead for good. San Antonio stretched the spurt to 14 unanswered points by scoring the first bucket of the fourth quarter.

Stat of the night: The Mavs, kings of the comeback during their championship run, are 0-11 when trailing after three quarters on the road this season.

Follow along with our experts as they tweet and chat throughout tonight's Mavs-Spurs game in San Antonio.

Rodrigue Beaubois remains somewhat of a riddle as the guard with Globetrotter-like flair from the little island of Guadeloupe nears the end of his third NBA regular season.

Is he a point guard or a shooting guard or both? Can he be more of a competitor than an entertainer? Does he merit a significant role once the Mavs’ roster is fully healthy?

PODCAST
ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM's Tim MacMahon joins GAC to discuss what went wrong for the Mavs in their loss to the Lakers and if booing Lamar Odom was the right thing for Mavs' fans to do. Listen

And the biggest question right now about Roddy B.: Can the Mavs really count on the kid in prime time?

The answer to that question at the end of Beaubois’ injury-interrupted sophomore season was absolutely not, which is why the Mavs’ vets successfully lobbied for DeShawn Stevenson to replace him in the starting lineup for the regular-season finale and postseason. The Mavs are still in the process of figuring out whether Beaubois is really big-game ready after another year of seasoning.

His splendid performances in wins over a pair of playoff teams -- the Spurs and Nuggets -- during the last week were certainly encouraging. Was Beaubois’ off night in the loss to the Lakers just a hiccup or him reverting to form against high-caliber competition?

“These are all great opportunities for him to get better,” coach Rick Carlisle said after Wednesday night’s loss to L.A., when Beaubois had six points on 3-of-12 shooting and struggled defensively when matched up with Kobe Bryant or Ramon Sessions. “This has been one of the more difficult teams for him to play against if you look at his history, but I will remind everybody that the last two games were against pretty damn good teams, too, and he played terrific.

“We’ve got to stay the course with him. To be fair, we’ve got to look at larger blocks of time and we’ve got to have discretion about when we get the microscope out.”

It’s notable that this was the first time Beaubois got off the bench against the Lakers this season. He sat during the Mavs’ first two losses to Kobe and Co. this season, as Carlisle called those “veteran’s games.”

As Carlisle mentioned, Beaubois has never had much success against the Lakers. He had a couple of particularly painful-to-watch performances in losses to the Lakers during the brief experiment with Beaubois as a starter last season.

Is that because of matchups -- good luck finding many guards who feast against Kobe -- or because the figurative lights are too bright for Beaubois?

“It just wasn’t a good night for me,” Beaubois said. “It was tough for me to find a rhythm and the shot wasn’t going in. That doesn’t help, but I have to find a way to help the team even when my shot doesn’t go in. Tonight, that wasn’t the case. I have to do a better job of that.

“It happens, but I have to be ready for the next one.”

The next one happens to be against the Spurs, the one elite West foe that Beaubois has given fits.

Beaubois only non-garbage time playoff experience came out of desperation when the Mavs dug a big hole in a win-or-the-end Game 6 against the Spurs in the 2010 first round. He got the Mavs back in the game with 16 points in 21 minutes before Carlisle made the controversial decision to go with ice-cold Jason Terry as the Mavs fizzled down the stretch.

Two of Beaubois’ best games this season came against the Spurs. As the fill-in starting point guard, Beaubois had 14 points and seven assists in a Jan. 29 overtime win, when fellow Frenchman Tony Parker was 2-of-11 from the floor and watched the entire fourth quarter and OT from the bench with the rest of the Spurs’ starters. Beaubois had 16 points and a career-high-tying eight rebounds in last week’s win over the Spurs.

“I don’t think he looks at any game like prime time,” Jason Kidd said. “I think he just wants to get better at his craft and we all want to help him get better. It’s not about prime time. It’s just a matter of being good and being consistent. That’s what we all fight to try to do.”

That might be true, but Beaubois has more to prove than any other holdover from last season’s Mavericks' roster. With the Mavs two games into a 10-game stretch against playoff competition, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to do it.