Currently the Mavs, under new coach Avery Johnson, sit at 49-13 and own the best record in the West with a half-game lead over the San Antonio Spurs. There is no question that they have been playing great basketball all season, but as the season starts to wind down the question remains: are the Dallas Mavericks serious contenders for the title or are they merely pretenders? Well, since Feb. 1st, the Mavs are 14-3, but of those 17 total games, only 9 of them have been against teams with records above the .500 mark. Of those 9 games they are 6-3 with losses coming to Denver, and most recently, San Antonio, and Phoenix. For the season, they are 20-7 versus teams with records over .500. Interestingly enough, they are 1-2 versus the Lakers this year, a team they could likely come up against in the playoffs early on. The numbers speak for themselves. A 20-7 record against winning teams is pretty good and, in my opinion, the days of the Mavs being pretenders are finished. The ultimate test will come when the regular season ends and playoff basketball begins. What I find most interesting about this team is the fact that they are doing so much with so little. Aside from Dirk, they have no real superstar caliber players. Jason Terry has come into his own, Josh Howard has proven to be a good young talent, and Stackhouse has been playing fairly well in the 36 games he's played this year, but much like the Pistons, they have a team full of roleplayers each working together as a cohesive unit to get the job done. The Mavs wouldn't be where they are now were it not for the coaching ability of Avery Johnson. If they can hold out and win their division they will take homecourt through at least most of the playoffs and, considering their 28-5 home record this season, that could be a very scary proposition for any team matched up against them. I wouldn't go as far as saying that they will win the West, but they certainly are legitimate contenders.