Warriors could stun Mavs again

DALLAS — Don Nelson extracted his pound of flesh in the playoffs. All that remained was for owner Mark Cuban to sue and the Mavericks to convince themselves that no fatal flaw had been exposed by the first-round exit.

For an encore, Nelson will try to keep his former employer from making the playoffs.

That should get their attention.

No one envisioned this scenario 10 months ago. The idea that Golden State, Denver and the Mavericks would fight for the final two seeds in the Western Conference was as preposterous as seeing Jason Kidd back in a Mavericks uniform. But that's where we are.

The Warriors face the Mavericks twice over the next four days. If Golden State wins both games, it could be the blow that sends the Mavericks spiraling toward the lottery.

Nelson refuses to gloat or frame the Mavericks' plight in such stark terms. Remember, he has a son in the front office and friends throughout the organization. His issue is with Cuban, no one else.

All he wants to do is guide the Warriors back to the playoffs. The Mavericks would be collateral damage as Golden State strives for that objective.

"Actually, we're playing pretty well," Nelson said. "I don't have any complaints on how we're playing and how we took the Lakers to the wire a couple of times. The caliber of the competition, that's the problem."

The Warriors are no strangers to what Mavericks coach Avery Johnson likes to call the NBA's single-elimination tournament. Golden State had to finish 15-5 last season to earn the No. 8 seed.

"Right down to the nub," Nelson said. "What's new?"

The Warriors reached the playoffs with 42 wins last season. The team has already surpassed that total. Erase an 0-6 start, when Jackson served a suspension, and this team has a winning percentage of .676.

"At the beginning of the season, if you had told me we would have won this many games, I would have thought we would be in better shape," Nelson said.

"We had three goals. One was to be in the hunt with a chance to be a playoff team. We've done that. The third goal was to make the playoffs. We haven't done that, but we're right where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season."

Note

• Former NBA player Isaiah Rider was jailed Saturday for investigation of auto theft, police said.

The 37-year-old Rider was driving a car that failed to stop at an intersection about 2:30 a.m. in Los Angeles' Skid Row district, officer Norma Eisenman said.

Officers checking the license plates discovered the car had been reported stolen from South Los Angeles, and Rider was arrested, police said.

He remained in the Los Angeles County jail on $25,000 bail, according to information on the Web site for the county Sheriff's Department.