Give Mavs their due, Stein!

It isn't often that one of the top three teams in ESPN's NBA Power Rankings is undefeated against the other two. It's freaking unheard of for that team to be ranked third among them. And yet, despite shellacking both the Spurs and Pistons, the Mavs find themselves snubbed in precisely that way.

Stein opens by reminding us that both the Pistons and Spurs were on the second night of a back-to-back, but he fails to mention that the Spurs were at home blowing out Cleveland by 20+ while resting their guys in the 4th. The Pistons played a physical Rockets team with a hobbled T-Mac, but is that an excuse for a "defense first" team to gack up 40 first-quarter points?

Back-to-backs are part of NBA life. The Mavs lost to Utah the night after opening with a run-and-gun OT win vs. Phoenix, but:
1) Nowitzki and Howard played a combined 100 minutes the night before.
2) They kept the game close (and in fact led most of the way) before finally tuckering out in the 4th.

So why would the Spurs, as rested and with as little travel as possible in a back-to-back situation, get run out of the gym? Why would the Pistons fail to show up at the beginning of the game, when they should still have some gas in the tank? Isn't it just possible the Mavs blew those teams out legitimately?

The biggest NBA story from the weekend was the Pistons giving up a 40 point first quarter. They haven't done that in decades. Plus, the Mavs shot 59% for the game. They played the kind of defense on which the Pistons supposedly pride themselves.

This game definitely said some things about the Mavericks. Perhaps they're developing the kind of kick-it-up-a-notch-against-the-big-boys mentality championship teams often demonstrate in the regular season. Maybe they're peaking too early and will flame out before season's end. But one thing's for sure: they're the best team in the league today and they have the wins to prove it. For one week, at least, they deserve to be on top.