For instance, When the Spurs surpassed the Mavericks, the Mavericks went down to #4 in the conference even though they have the 2nd best winning percentage and the 2nd best winning record, I thought the Mavericks would be #2 in the conference. How did they get to #4. I do not understand how that works.
212737
It is like this\n1. Division winner with the best record\n2. Division winner with the 2nd best record\n3. Division winner with the worst record\nThen it goes by record till the last seed.
618727
Mavs could not execute defensively and they had bad matchups on pick and rolls.  in addition to their loss dirk is putting up garbage 2 of 14.  keep it up heat 2 more to go!!!!!! go heat ho heat\n\nbest player on dallas is Jason Terry, no doubt.  he can move wihtout the ball(wich dirk cannot do in his dreams) and he can lead the team
265633
At that time, the NFL did not award the conference championship game to the team with the better record.  The site of the conference title games rotated from year to year depending on who made the game.  So for instance, one year the order of precedence may have been West Division champ, then Central, then East, whereas the next year it was Central, East, West, and the year after could have been East, West, Central (also remember there was only one wild card team, and only three rounds of the playoffs).\n\nAs it turns out, that year the Central had precedence over the East, so the Steelers hosted the title game that year.
287591
As much as I like Phoenix this year in the playoffs for beating LA twice, they have almost no chance against the Dallas Mavericks.\n\nThese guys almost lost the opening round to the Lakers. And they got taken to seven games by two of the three worst playoff teams in the Western Conference (the other being the Nuggets.) Had they been in the other bracket in the West, the Suns don't even make it out of the first round.  It doesn't matter who they play.  Yes, that means they would have even lost to the Grizzlies.\n\nDallas, meanwhile, knocked off the best Grizzlies team in franchise history, in a SWEEP.  Then they defeated the reigning NBA champions in a seven game series, closing out on the road, in an overtime game, overcoming rowdy fans, nearly the best game 7 comeback of all time, strong Spurs momentum from the previous two games and refs whistles getting rid of three of their best defensive players.\n\nThey MADE the Spurs play small ball against them. They dictated the pace of the games and won. They overcame falling just short in game 5, which they should have won (in which case I would be talking about how they knocked off the Spurs in FIVE).  They have the best individual player, the better defense, the better coach, home-field advantage, the more intimidating owner, better overall playmaking ability and offense (check out shot percentage), better free-throw shooting, better team colors, superior half-time show, I could go on and on...\n\nThis won't even go five games.  Mavs in 4.
282867
Haha, that was me about an hour ago (only I used language not as nice as yours). LoL. I think that the quality of play in this series has been badly tampered because of the whistles being blown during the games. Neither team has been able to play to their full potential, and I would've liked to see STRAIGHT UP BALL instead of a free throw bonanza. The Spurs have played as well as they could under the circumstances (give or take a turnover/missed shot here or there) and I am a firm believer that they could come back just like the Suns did the last round.  One thing is for sure: Dallas is LUCKY. This series could easily be 3-1 Spurs, and if they think Game 5 is going to be a cake walk, they are sorely mistaken! Spurs are the defending champs, and they CERTAINLY won't go down without a fight..! How great that fight actually is...? We'll just have to see Wednesday! =)
643613
The Mavericks should win. They are very versatile, and if they play small they can run Shaq right on to the bench.
80775
Don't know... them Spurs are looking awfully good.  Detroit is playing to prove something to L.Brown (and that could mean trouble for all the other teams).  You also have Dallas... and the Kings.  Some dangerous teams out there.  Taking nothing from the Suns though, they are a young hardworking team.  They'll win it all but perhaps not this year.
664102
Yes and no.  Let me expalin.  Everything was going fine for the Mavericks.  They won their two games at home.  They were in control of game 3 up until 5 1/2 minutes but they got relaxed, Wade took over and lost that game.  Then had a terrible game five, which you can be allowed one in a 7 game series, the Heat had theirs in game 2.  So that was the Mavs way of losing the momentum.  Now we really have a game and a series in game 5.  But that is when and I think the refs did have something to do with the win.  The touch fouls on Wade, the over and back, etc... we have all heard and seen before.  But now the Heat have all the momentum going into Game 6.  (And this is the first time I have seen this in the finals and I am surpised it has not happened more often, but with the 2-3-2 format, this should give the non-home-court advantaged team a huge advantage if you think about it.  Just win your 3 home games in a row at home and take that momentum and win the 6th.  I think pat Riley was thinking this the whole time.)  Now the Mavs could have done one of two things.  Used that anger and have a hell of a Game 6, or used that anger to totally fall apart.  I think they did have a pretty good game 6 but the Heat countered everything the Mavs gave them.  And Wade is still getting the touch calls because they have to be consistent with the other games.  But all in all it was a close game.  The Mavs almost won it.  But "they" lost this game, not the refs.  I really think they became the Mavs of old and tried to rely on the 3-point shot, and they were ice cold in that dept.  And after winning 3 in a row the Heat could smell blood and with all their veterans and Wade, they were not going to lose.
295851
i think it is asked too much. why don't they ask something else instead?  as far as the odds of edmonton, buffalo, carolina and anaheim i'd say were pretty low.  no one predicted early in the season that there would be 2 lower seeds in the west battling in the conference finals.  in the east no one foresaw carolina or buffalo battling it out in the eastern conference finals.  i did some research and found some sites with the odds. the first site(vegas insider) edmonton was predicted to have a 25-1 chance, anaheim a 40-1 chance, buffalo a 75-1 chance, and carolina a 100-1 chance.  the second site (usa today) predicted buffalo odds at 30-1, carolina 45-1, anaheim 50-1, and edmonton 90-1.
588068
That's just how it is. Whenever a team you like loses, you always come up with some lame excuse.\n\nBut the Mavs will bounce back.\n\nGO MAVS!
172301
Two seasons ago, the rules changed from a best-of-5 series in the first round (first 2 on home advantage team's court, next 2 on the other team's court, and the decisive) to a best-of-7 game series (2-2-1-1-1). The second round and the conference finals have the same format, but the NBA Finals, althought is also a best-of-7 games series, the format is different (2-3-2).\n\nHope that answer your question and any other doubt regarding the playoffs.
387126
It all has to do with the confidence the coaches have in your team beating your opponents.  Louisville lost a lot of confidence when they lost to Rutgers (c'mon - it's Rutgers!).  They lost - rather handily - to an unranked team.  And the ranked teams they DID beat wasn't by much.  The ones voting on their ranking felt there were 10 other teams that were doing better with their schedules than they were.  That is all.  If rankings depended on who you beat, Rutgers would be #3, wouldn't they?
77944
I think the so-called "power conferences" get too much credit.  The Big-10 was supposedly the strongest conference in the nation and look what happened to them in the tourney.
446567
I think the above answers lead you to the answer you are looking for. The spread is based largely on who the prognosticators think the public will be betting on (not necessarily who is the better of the teams). We would like to think that the public would pick the team that is most likely to win based on current performance and statistics. However, the truth of the matter is, the public bets on who they feel will win (largely based on emotion rather than data). Take the 2.5 points. Denver is by far the better of the two teams right now.
657449
It depends on how you determine that they ended in a 'dead heat'.  For example, you might consider two teams whose players finished 1,2,3,4,5 and 5,4,3,2,1 to have tied... but it all depends on how you rank the places to determine a tie.\n\nAs stated the best I can say is that all 9 teams have tied so the teams would all receive *first* place.
192141
Everybody in the league is eligible for the prestigious award. Dirk has definetely had a good season putting the Mavs right behind the Spurs for 2nd place in the Western Conference for now. Unfortunately, their have been players that have been putting up bigger numbers, such as Kobe, Lebron, and Steve Nash. He may win it eventually, though. He has the potential. Hopefully the Mavs will do well in the playoffs.
618790
Undoubtedly,  The west, at this point, is probably the strongest any conference has ever been.  First let me say that Dallas is playing as good as any team can be expected.  Not only have they stolen the NBA championship from the best team in basketball, (The San Antonio Spurs)  they even stole their coach from the Spurs.  Just joking !!!!  I am a Spurs fan but since they lost to Dallas, In what is probably the best series of the entire finals including the championship series, I have to pull for the Mavs all the way.  Keep it in TEXAS.  Maimi is 2nd rate to say the least.  Shack has seen his better days and should get out before he makes a bum out of himself.  As for Wade, he has all of the tools to become a real super star but not with the talent in Miami.  If anyone doubts the superiority of the western conference, just watch it next year.  #1 - Phoenix will have Stoudemar back.  #2 - The Clippers will only be better.  #3 - San Antonio is just one center away from being virtually unbeatable.  #4 Dallas will be the reigning NBA champs.  The Eastern Conference #1 - Ben Wallace will leave Detroit.  #2 Shaq will continue to deteriorate.  #3 - LaBron James can't do it all by himself.  #4 - Is there anyone else in the East worth mentioning?  Parity will be a long time coming.