Maybe Rick Carlisle knew what he was doing all along with how he handled the Mavericks bench.

It didn't always seem that way to the players. None aired their complaints in public because this is not a mutinous group. But they were baffled.

How could they play well one night, then not get off the bench the next? How could the coach expect them to be at their best when he didn't allow them to be part of a consistent rotation?

Carlisle should know all this. He was a role player in the NBA.

Carlisle listened, but never wavered. The fruits of his approach were evident against the Spurs.

Would the Mavericks have won that first-round series if Barea, Brandon Bass and others hadn't stepped up when the Spurs' defense suffocated Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry? Would they have been prepared to contribute the way they did if Carlisle didn't put them in those positions during the regular season?

"I think we've learned all season with Coach, you've got to be ready for anything," Nowitzki said. "Sometimes, it was hard to keep all of the bench guys into it. Sometimes they were frustrated.

"But hey, this is the NBA. We're all professionals. We're making nice money, and you have to be ready."

Carlisle didn't ambush his players. The night before training camp opened, he stood before the team and told them minutes would be unpredictable. He said he expected them to contribute when they did get minutes and work to get better if they didn't.

It's a philosophy that has evolved since the 2004-05 season in Indiana when the nucleus of his team faced long-term suspensions and injuries after a brawl with Detroit.

"There are two schools of thought," Carlisle said. "One, sometimes it's a dire situation that happens out of necessity, which happened to us in Indy in '04-05. Sometimes you get a roster like we did this year, that has a lot of components, winning components, and you know you're going to have to use a lot of guys in a lot of different situations.

"It makes it challenging for the players. In many cases, there is a lack of consistency in terms of the minutes. But the attitude of our guys has been very good all year. Everyone understood that part of the obligation of being on this team was to be ready."

An inconsistent rotation undoubtedly contributed to the Mavericks' inconsistent regular season. Five different players started at shooting guard. Gerald Green had some big games early in the season but disappeared from the scene late. James Singleton had seven double-doubles off the bench yet played in only 62 games.

Josh Howard and Devean George were in and out of the lineup with injuries, further muddling the rotation.

"It was a very interesting process to see how it developed and who distinguished themselves at what time," Carlisle said. "Really, everyone played well when they got the chance to play."

And the complaining?

"Hey, so did I," Carlisle said. "Everybody would love consistency."

The rotation took on more structure once Howard returned in April. Carlisle isn't as unpredictable with it now as he was in the first four or five months of the season.

Still, who knows who will be given the opportunity to shine against Denver?

"With coach Carlisle, anything is possible at any given time," Nowitzki said. "You've just got to stay ready."