Twin Texas Towers: Spurs, Mavs rise above rest of conference

The San Antonio Spurs, already the NBA champions, appeared to get even stronger during the offseason with the additions of veterans Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel, a pair of former All-Stars.

Adding Finley was supposed to help the Spurs in two ways. First, it gave them another fine all-around player to complement an already strong team. Secondly, the thinking was, Finley's absence would hurt his former team, the Dallas Mavericks — one of San Antonio's primary Western Conference rivals.

The Spurs were expected to dominate. The real race, most thought, would be for second place.

But here it is, midseason, and San Antonio is hardly a sure thing to finish with the best record in the West.

The Mavericks, meanwhile, appear better than ever, even without Finley. They've been putting pressure on their Southwest Division rivals all season and are currently just one game behind San Antonio.

After those two Texas titans?

Well . . .

Let's just say there's a major drop-off. The Phoenix Suns, Pacific Division leaders, have been surprisingly strong — especially considering they've played all year without their All-Star center.

Beyond that, the West is pretty evenly matched — which is a nice way of saying "mediocre." The Northwest Division, for instance, is a joke. A team with a .500 record may end up winning it.

Sadly, the second place team in the Southwest Division — despite likely being the second best team in the entire conference — will only get a No. 4 seed in the playoffs. The other two division winners will get the second and third seeds.

The No. 4 seed, in addition to having to play a better first-round opponent, is in the same bracket as the No. 1 seed. That means it is very likely that the Spurs and Mavericks will meet in the second round of the playoffs and can't meet in the Western Conference finals.

Should the Spurs play the Mavs in the second round it will be fun to watch. Seeing Finley — who for so many years was the face of the Mavericks — playing against his old team will just add to the intrigue. The teams have played twice so far with each team earning one win. They play twice more in the regular season — with both games in San Antonio.