SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The ABA existed in an era of big hair, small crowds and a style of basketball that was completely wide open.

The players boasted odd names: Iceman, Fatty and The Whopper. And in the final championship series ever played in the ABA, a Denver Nuggets team led by rookie David Thompson averaged an amazing 115.3 points per game -- and lost to the Julius Erving-led New York Nets in six games.

"I didn't know much about him, but I remember playing with the Bulls against ABA teams in exhibition games and seeing him just fly through the air," Sacramento Kings coach Rick Adelman of Dr. J. "The (ABA) style was definitely fast-paced."

Today's conference semifinal between Adelman's Kings and the Dallas Mavericks matches two teams with styles and substance reminiscent of the old ABA. These teams come complete with odd names (Hedo, Peja, Dirk and Wang), odd hair (Steve Nash, and newly streaked Hedo Turkoglu), and guys who are just plain odd (Mavs 7-foot-6 bench-warmer Shawn Bradley and Kings free spirit Scott Pollard).

And then there are the players: Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic were both All-Stars for the Kings, as were Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash for the Mavs.

During the regular season, the Kings had the best record in the NBA (61-21) while the Mavs were fourth-best (57-25). Dallas ranked first in scoring (105.2 ppg), while the Kings were second (104.6 ppg).

"It's going to be wide open," Webber said. "It's a series a lot of people will look forward to watching."

Despite being the top seed, the Kings on Friday sounded as if they were entering the series as the underdog. That has a lot to do with how both teams handled their first-round opponents: Sacramento beat Utah in a four-game series that the Kings could easily have lost in three, while the Mavs averaged 112.7 points in sweeping Minnesota.

"A lot of people aren't giving us a chance," Kings guard Bobby Jackson said. "But we don't have the best record in the league for nothing. We know they're a high-powered offensive team, but we're a high-powered offensive team as well."

With Steve Nash and Nick Van Exel capable of pushing the ball quickly up the court, and the Mavs able to put five 3-point shooters on the court at the same time, the Mavs have more offensive firepower.

But the Kings will benefit from their physical, four-game battle against the Jazz, in which Sacramento was forced to dig down defensively at the end of each game.

"We had to play tough defensively, and that series helped us," Webber said. "It also helped that we were forced to play a half-court style. We proved that we could play a totally different way."

The difference this time, is that against the Jazz, the Kings knew they had to stop just two guys, Karl Malone and John Stockton. Against the Mavs, the Kings will have to defend everyone, especially when Dallas puts Nash, Nowitzki, Raef LaFrentz, Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel on the court at the same time.

"These guys are so unique in the way they play," Adelman said. "To stop them from pushing the ball up the court? If we don't make them defend us, if we don't force them to take the ball out of bounds a lot on our offense end, they're going to get a lot of confidence pushing the ball up the court.

"It's not an area we've been great in, transition defense," Adelman added. "It's going to be crucial for us to limit the easy and often looks they get."

The key to the series will be Webber and Vlade Divac, and their ability to score in the low post. Divac, who prefers to stay stationary in the lane on defense, will have to move his 34-year-old legs to chase the Mavs' perimeter shooters. On the offensive end, Divac is crafty enough with his low-post moves that he's capable of getting the Dallas post defenders in foul trouble.

While Webber is impressive with his inside-outside versatility, he must come strong against Dallas. If Webber is getting his points in the paint against a Mavs team that, outside of Eduardo Nadir, doesn't like to play physical, he will have a huge offensive series. Webber must punish the Mavs on the low blocks.

My prediction: In the preseason, I picked the Kings to win it all, and I'm not about to change up now. The homecourt advantage is key. Sacramento in seven.

Jerry Bembry is the NBA general editor for ESPN The Magazine.