DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks are letting the San Antonio
Spurs off easy in their season opener Thursday night.
Rather than raising the banner proclaiming themselves "2006
Western Conference Champions" in front of the state rival they
beat along the way, the Mavs are saving the ceremony for their
second home game.
That's right, Mark Cuban is skipping a chance to rub it in.
"Because opening night is its own celebration, we wanted to do
the banner raising separately," Cuban wrote in an e-mail
Wednesday. "In addition, winning a conference championship is not
our ultimate goal. So the banner raising was more as a thank you to
the fans than anything else."
Cuban might have done it -- if he thought it would bother the
Spurs.
"I love to stir things up," he added. "But this is at our
place, not theirs. Raising the banner doesn't stir things up in
front of our fans."
Artificial gestures aren't needed to stoke a matchup between the
teams that had the two best records in the West last season and are
among the favorites to win it all this season.
The Spurs and Mavs played one of the best playoff series in
years, and possibly the best ever in the second round, with Dallas
pulling it out in overtime of Game 7 in San Antonio. The Spurs
seemed to have it won until Manu Ginobili shocked everyone by
fouling Dirk Nowitzki on a drive to the basket, letting the big
German sink the tying free throw at the end of the fourth quarter.
The subplots were as terrific as the games. There were built-in
storylines like Mavs coach Avery Johnson's close ties to the Spurs
and longtime Dallas star Michael Finley now playing for San
Antonio. Others developed, from Mavericks guard Jason Terry getting
suspended one game for punching Finley to Cuban making fun of San
Antonio's River Walk.
Dallas went on to beat Phoenix to become Western Conference
champions for the first time. The Mavericks were halfway to winning
it all, then blew a big, late lead in Game 3 and wound up having to
watch the Miami Heat celebrate their title in Dallas.
Between Dallas going into the season aiming for two more wins
and San Antonio trying to reclaim its spot atop the state,
conference and league, it's obvious why this matchup was picked to
highlight the third in the NBA's series of opening nights.
"I think it's great," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.
"To get out there right off the bat will wake us both up for the
start of the year."
Terry was even more enthusiastic.
"I love it, love it," he said, smiling wide. "Why wait? Let's
get it started. The team that wins this, obviously, is not going to
(automatically) win the championship, but for us it does give us a
little edge if we can come out on top. It's definitely what
everybody wants to see. It's a good test for us early."
It may not be a full evaluation, though. Spurs point guard Tony
Parker is battling a sprained ankle and may be a game-time
decision.
"I have to convince Pop," Parker said Wednesday. "If I feel a
little bit of pain I'm not going to take any risks. ... Hopefully
it will be fine and I'll be ready to go."
Both teams come into this season with new looks.
Dallas has five new rotation players, leaving Johnson the
challenge of figuring out how to divvy up the playing time among
Greg Buckner, Anthony Johnson, Devean George, Austin Croshere and
rookie Maurice Ager.
San Antonio has two new centers after giving up on Rasho
Nesterovic and Nazr Mohammed during the playoffs. Francisco Elson
likely will join the starting lineup, with Fabricio Oberto getting
more minutes.
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AP writer Elizabeth White in San Antonio contributed to this
report.