Save the date! Save the date! Saturday, April 19th, 7:00 ET: Mavs will begin their annihilation of the playoff-inexperienced Hornets.
Mark it down. Put it on a post-it note. Set your alarm clocks. Do whatever it takes to remember the date.

How sure am I that Dallas will win? I have two bets on the table; one is with bmuhlenburg (the bet is actually if the Mavs will go further than the Suns in the playoffs), where the loser has to change their mugshot/avatar to a picture of the opposing team’s logo, change the background of their profile to the opposing team, change their profile quote, and in our fantasy football league that we will be starting up, the loser must put their team name as “Mavs are #1” or “Suns are #1,” or something to that extent. The other is with toastbd, where the loser must put “Mavs suck. Hornets rule.” or vice versa at the end of all of their message board posts.
______________

How do the Mavs match up with the Hornets? Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of each team.

POINT GUARD (Chris Paul vs Jason Kidd): Paul is a MVP candidate, but has never been in the playoffs in his career. Kidd on the other hand got his 100th career triple double last night and has been to the NBA Finals in his career before. That said, I give the edge to Paul and the Hornets.
Rating (scale of 1-5 of how big the difference is): 1.5
SHOOTING GUARD (Mo Peterson vs Jason Terry): MoPete is averaging 8 PPG with about 1.4 three-pointers per game. The JET is averaging almost twice as many points (15.5) per game, more 3’s a game, more steals, higher FG% and FT%. This isn’t even close.
Rating: 4

SMALL FORWARD (Peja Stojakovic vs Josh Howard): I’m giving this to Howard, though it is close. Peja’s 3’s and FT% will come very handy in close games (which this series will have many of); Howard still has a .813 FT%, but won’t be taking many of the late FT’s (that would be Dirk). Howard does have more points, rebounds and assists than Peja, however.
Rating: 0.5

POWER FORWARD (David West vs Dirk Nowitzki): Though David West has been underrated this season, Dirk outmatches him in almost every stats with the exception of blocks: points, rebounds, FT%, 3’s by a lot, assists and turnovers. Plus, he has the playoff experience.
Crazy stat: Dirk has only one more FG on the year than West in 9 more attempts.
Rating: 3.5

CENTER (Tyson Chandler vs Eric Dampier): Well, Dampier has more blocks on the year (sigh)....I wish we hadn’t given up Diop in the Kidd deal. Chandler wins this one.
Rating: 3

BENCH (M.James, Pargo, Bonzi Wells vs Stackhouse, Bass, D.George): I think Dallas wins and it isn’t close. Stackhouse provides a change of pace and a barrage of 3’s, plus a high FT% (kind of like a middle-class Peja, if you will). Bass is a monster: In his last 6 games, he averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds per game; and if you watched the finale vs New Orleans, you saw what he could do in a starter’s role (he played 30 minutes):4-6 FG and 5-5 FT for 13 pts, 12 rebs (7 of them offensive) and 2 blocks. George is our Bruce Bowen—a solid defender who can guard basically any SF or PF.
Rating: 3

Final Tally: Dallas=11, N.O.=4 1/2.
Take away 1 1/2 from Dallas and add it to NO on account of my bias and it becomes 9 1/2 to 6, in favor of Dallas.

Dallas in 6 in my pick.