Mavericks guaranteed top seed in playoffs

~ Dallas could win as many as 69 games during the regular season.

DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks can call themselves the best team in the NBA in 2006-07.

"That and a dollar," team owner Mark Cuban said, "leaves you with a dollar."

Dallas has won 64 games with five left. Winning them all would tie the team for the second-best record in league history. Even if the Mavs lose them all, they're still guaranteed the most wins in the league this season and the most in team history.

They've also secured the top seed in the playoffs, another franchise first, and they've won only the second division title in their 27 seasons.

While everyone is proud of they've accomplished, nobody is making a big deal out of it. Not after being halfway to the championship last year, then blowing it with four straight losses.

That's why there were no more victory smiles than usual following a 96-86 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday night.

Half the team already was up the tunnel when the public-address announcer mentioned that the win clinched the No. 1 seed. It drew a revived ovation from fans who apparently also had to be reminded about the accomplishment.

"Our emphasis is on improving -- each game, each practice, getting better and positioning ourselves to get back to the finals," point guard Jason Terry said. "I haven't gotten over [last year] yet. Finish -- that's our motto this year."

Still, there's something to be said about having the best record in the entire league. Even just being the top seed in the tough Western Conference is enough of a challenge to have been worth setting as a preseason goal.

"We've never talked about it," coach Avery Johnson said. "All we do is go out every night and try to meet certain criteria offensively and defensively. Then, after 82 games, we see how we've met that criteria. If you make the playoffs you have a chance to win the championship."

His point is proved by last year, when Dallas made the finals as a No. 4 seed in the West and Miami was seeded second in the East.

Johnson also noted what happened in 1995, when he was playing for San Antonio. The Spurs won a league-best 62 games but lost in the conference finals to sixth-seeded Houston, which won only 47. The Rockets went on to sweep Orlando in the finals.

The best part of being the No. 1 seed is having home-court advantage in every round of the playoffs. Ultimately, that means that if any series comes down to a Game 7, that game would be in Dallas.

Cuban half-jokingly said that could make him some money. But he also knows his team did just fine on the road in the playoffs last year, winning three series on rivals' courts, including a Game 7 in overtime against the top-seeded Spurs.

"All things being equal, you want it," Cuban said. "It's to your advantage. There's no down side to it. But you still have to play good basketball."

That's something Dallas hasn't been doing lately, at least not to Johnson's standards. The Mavericks have lost twice and been in several way-too-tight games since a 6-0 rod trip that pretty much locked up the top seed.

"I don't know if we're the most talented team, but when we're playing well, I think we can be pretty good," Johnson said. "The team that I've been seeing over the last week or two is not a deep team. There is a team that was on a six-game road trip about two weeks ago, that was a pretty good basketball team."

As much as Johnson wants to work out the kinks and get his team playing like that again, he knows he must wait until the playoffs. Rest is more important now.

He laughingly threatened to fine Dirk Nowitzki and Jerry Stackhouse if they tried boarding the team plane Tuesday, forcing them to miss a game Wednesday night in Minnesota. More players are likely to miss time down the stretch, including center Erick Dampier, who left Monday night's game in the opening minutes because of a shoulder strain.

With two West Coast games on back-to-back nights to close the season, don't be surprised if rookies Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Jose Juan Barea and Maurice Ager log heavy minutes.

"It's nice to know that we've established ourselves with the ability to play good basketball," Cuban said. "Now, can we play our best basketball during the playoffs? The best record is a reflection that we can. Hopefully that's how it will turn out."