Mavs turn attention toward league playoffs and championship
by Robert Barowski ,Reporter

    The 2003 NBA post-season is here, and for the third year in a row, the Dallas Mavericks are in the hunt for the championship.
    The Mavs hope to push themselves past the second round this year. Last year, they were knocked out by the Sacramento Kings, and the San Antonio Spurs the year prior.
     For most of the season, the Mavs were the team everyone chased, opening up the season with a 14-game winning streak and maintaining the best record in the NBA throughout most of the season. However, the last six games of the season weren't what the Mavs expected. The team saw itself fall from the number one seed to the third seed after losing three straight games on the road. At the same time, hopes of winning its division also went right out the window. San Antonio, who had been on fire the entire second half of the season, ended up winning the division out-right.
    There's plenty of good to come out of this year as well. The team set a franchise record for most wins in a season, tallying 60 victories-a feat few teams can accomplish in today's NBA after beating San Antonio in a meaningless game on the last day of the regular season.
     It was coach Don Nelson's second time to coach a team to a 60-win season; the first was back in the 1980-1981 season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
    The Mavs also had two players selected to be on the All-Star team: Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. It was the second time for both players to be selected; they were both on the team last year. Nowitzki also became the second Maverick in team history to tally more than 2,000 points in a season. Prior to game one of the playoffs Dirk had 2,011 points, after scoring 25 in the last game against San Antonio.
    Owner Mark Cuban also set a personal record this year-the league never fined him for his typically crazy antics. Last year, he was fined nearly a million dollars for various acts of misconduct.
     Dallas faces the Portland Trailblazers in the first round and will have home court as the higher seed. The Blazers come into the series with a 50-32 record. Portland has been known to light the Mavs up on occasion, often coming from huge deficits to win games.
    This series will be very interesting to watch: reason being, you never know who will show up to play for the Blazers. The team has a lot of athletic players who can get it done on the court. The only problem for Portland is chemistry; this team could contend for a title if the players could just get along.
    Forward Ruben Patterson has a broken left eye socket, a result of being punched by teammate Zach Randolph a couple of weeks ago. Actions such as this have given the Blazers the nickname "Jailblazers" throughout the league and media.
    Scottie Pippen will be playing in the series against Dallas; he was removed from the injured list on April 15 following recovery from knee surgery on March 18. Dallas is very pleased to have Michael Finley back on the court for them. Fin has been out with a hamstring tear, and the team has struggled without him.
     Coach Don Nelson says Fin is at nearly 80 percent and has been a little tentative while on the court. Better to have Fin at 80 percent than have someone like Raja Bell at 100 percent.
     In his absence, many players had to step up to fill the gap; the most notable was Nick Van Exel.
     One player on the bench who has stepped his game up a little bit has been Raef LaFrentz.
     LaFrentz's point production has gone up the past couple of weeks, and if he can keep that up, the Mavs will be in a better position for a deep run in the playoffs.
     The series should be brutal to watch, and even more brutal for the teams to play. Portland is a very physical team that will try to keep the Mavs from getting into its shooting groove and make it a half-court game, a game that the Mavs have struggled in this season.
     Look for the Mavs to win it in seven.
     All Mavs playoff games can be heard on ESPN 103.3FM with Mark Followill, Brad Davis and Dave Shore calling the action. ESPN 103.3FM will also broadcast selected games throughout the post-season, including the Minnesota/Los Angeles series, program director Scott Masteller said.