Q: In The Dallas Morning News’ standings, the Mavericks are listed ahead of the Spurs. I think the next tiebreaker after record is conference winning percentage. The Spurs have a better winning percentage against the conference. If my info is correct and the season ended today, the Mavs would lock up the fourth seed in the Western Conference, not the first.
Don’t take this e-mail as if I am a Mavs hater. I am a die-hard Mavs fan, but I think the common variety Mavs fan should have correct info so they don’t look stupid defending the standings. If my information is incorrect, I have no ego. I would like correct info. Thanks for an ear.
Chris Peterson
MOORE: We’ve received a lot of e-mails on this in the past two weeks, so much that it deserves to be addressed again.
As of Feb. 14, the Spurs and Mavericks did own the same record (40-11). The Mavericks were listed as the No. 1 seed and San Antonio No. 4.
That is correct. The Mavericks and Spurs have split their two games so far this season. The next tiebreaker in this scenario is division record. The Mavericks were 8-2 in the division vs. 6-2 for the Spurs, giving Dallas the edge.
A lot of people have written to say that we’re wrong on this, that NBA.com and other Web sites list the Spurs ahead of the Mavericks. I can assure you we’ve talked to the NBA office, and we’re not wrong. In fact, if you check on the NBA Web site today, you will find the Mavericks with the No. 1 seed.
After head-to-head, conference record is the first tiebreaker to determine the playoff position of two or more teams outside the division. But the division has to be determined first, which gives division results a greater weight than conference record.