As a long time Dallas Mavericks fan, I tend to get worried when the playoffs suddenly roll around. Why you ask? Because I have seen my fair share of dreams crushed, falling short at the last minute, and just all around bad play.

The Mavericks went to the NBA finals in 2006 as the western conference champions. My dream was coming true. An NBA title finally brought home to Dallas. But alas, the Mavs fell apart and lost four straight games, losing the series 4-2.

From then on I was always skeptical about the Mavericks. The next year we were the #1 seed in the standings and took a first round exit thanks to the Golden StateWarriors. The following year we were the seventh seed and also took a first round leave thanks to Paul Pierce and the New Orleans Hornets.

Hope came last year when the Mavericks crushed the curse and made it past the first round thanks to a 4-1 series win over the San Antonio Spurs. But once again, the Mavs failed to get far with a second round exit thanks to “Bird Man” and the Denver Nuggets.

So why should this year be any different? The Mavericks are the #2 seed in the west taking on the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. Why should the Mavericks do any better this year?

So I sat down on Sunday night expecting myself to walk away disappointed one again. I was thrilled at the game played. Dirk was playing the best ball in the league that night, and even the San Antonio coach knows it.

“Dirk got the best of whatever we tried to do tonight,” said Greg Poppovich. “We tried a lot of different things, but he beat them all.”

The game got me really excited for the upcoming series. My prediction is that the Mavericks take down the Spurs in 4 games with the Spurs only winning 2. The Mavericks play again on Wednesday April 21, 2010.