Just making the playoffs looked like a questionable goal for the Mavericks when they got to mid-January with a record of 22-17 in the competitive Western Conference. Then, after forward Josh Howard suffered a second ankle sprain in March, they finished the month losing five of nine games.

With Howard back for all but one game in April, the Mavs won six of their final eight, including a season finale victory over Houston that helped the Spurs take the Southwest Division title from Houston and jumped Dallas into the No. 6 seed.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich believes the Mavericks lately have been playing "better than almost anybody in the league."

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle won't go quite that far, but he likes what he has seen of late.

"I wouldn't say we're playing great Basketball," Carlisle told reporters Friday in Dallas, "but we've improved gradually as the last two months have gone on. We just want to keep building on that."

The Mavericks are playing now with a sense of righteous indignation.

Mavericks guard Jason Terry, the favorite to succeed Manu Ginobili as the NBA's Sixth Man Award winner, told reporters on Friday he is tired of listening to talking heads spouting disrespect about the Mavs.

"It feels disrespectful when you watch those shows on TNT and ESPN, and they say, 'Just walk through the Mavericks,' and 'that's who you want to play.'

"So, we'll see if that's who you want to play."

Carlisle, who replaced 2006 Coach of the Year Avery Johnson, leaves the outrage to others. His goal is to keep his players focused on the task at hand and the ultimate goal.

"This is a franchise that is a championship franchise," he said, "and if you don't win a championship, it's going to be considered a failure. This is why we all play. And that's the goal of 15 other teams right now, too.

"We're going to do everything possible to play our best, as is San Antonio, and everybody else in the playoffs."