Mavericks Bound for Disappointment?

Being a fan of professional basketball in general, I often find myself watching games in which my hometown Pistons are not participating. Last night I had the chance to catch the Dallas Mavericks on NBATV. And you know what? They were absolutely terrific. Playing a pretty good Eastern squad, the New Jersey Nets, the Mavericks took every hit the Nets had to give and like a true heavyweight champion struck back even harder when it counted.

But is there something to the theory that playing hard to gain homecourt throughout the playoffs can be detrimental to a team's success? Look at the past three seasons in the NBA:

• 2004 - The best record in the West was held by the San Antonio Spurs with 57 wins and the best record in the East, and the NBA, was the Indiana Pacer's record of 61-21. Both teams lost in their Conference Championship Series.
• 2005 - The Phoenix Suns had the best record in the league with 61 wins and the Miami Heat were a close second at 59 wins. Neither team advanced to the NBA Finals.
• 2006 - The Detroit Pistons were strong with a franchise-record 64 wins while the Spurs nearly matched the wins with 63. Both teams were colossal disappointments in the playoffs with the Spurs losing in the second round and the Pistons losing to the eventual champions.

Now, fresh after a loss in the NBA Finals, it is the Mavericks who seem to be playing their heart out night in and night out. And they are playing hard. In the game I saw, two plays stood out in general.

• Devin Harris, a starting guard for the Mavericks, went after a ball going out of bounds and fell hard to save the ball. His team got an extra possession, but Harris was obviously shaken up and had to go to the bench for a couple minutes.
• Jason Terry leaped into the stands to pursue a ball he had zero chance at. He literally jumped over the first row to fall into the lap of some Dallas fans in the second row.

Both of the above plays served to help get the crowd behind their team. Look more closely at the plays, however, and you will see both could have resulted in long-term injuries. With fifty wins already, is it really worth it for the Mavericks to kill themselves on a nightly basis? The feeling in recent years is teams that peak too early, as the Mavericks are, don't have anything left when they have to play tough teams every game in the postseason.

Homecourt is definitely worth achieving, but look at recent history and you will see a bunch of number 2 and 3 seeds getting into the Finals. Don't take this article the wrong way, NBA players should try hard every game. The Mavericks simply should take some time to rest their stars and get their bench players more time, or they may find themselves regretting it in June.