SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Really good news for the NBA: The Mavericks and Kings might play each other for seven games in a row.

Really good news for the NBA: The Mavericks and Kings might play each other for seven games in a row.

	Raef LaFrentz, right, and the Mavs don't hate Chris Webber's Kings (at least not yet).

(Oops. That's right. Instant replay is not allowed yet.)

This Western Conference semifinal is great for the league and even better for the teams. There will be definite challenges -- the Mavericks trying to maintain their momentum after a long break since beating Minnesota on Sunday, the Kings trying to regain their offensive rhythm after being pushed by Utah in the first round because they could not control the line of scrimmage -- but most of all there will be the potential of something special in the bigger picture.

A great rivalry.

Dallas and Sacramento are so much alike that it's a natural. Both love to put pedal to the metal on offense, and the NBA loves the entertainment value. Both are franchises on the come, from the depths in just three or four years and with no signs of returning anytime soon either. Both rely heavily on international markets (Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, Steve Nash, Vlade Divac, Eduardo Najera, Hedo Tukoglu, for starters) and aren't doing so bad on the national scene either (Chris Webber and Michael Finley). Both have veteran coaches -- Don Nelson and Rick Adelman even used to work in Golden State -- and young-gun owners who are lustily embraced in their cities.

And now they both have each other for an entire playoff series, and that's a big deal. Now, they have the potential for something real.

The regular seasons have been great, competitive annually for the last four years and with almost every game high on entertainment value. But the true rivalries are forged in the playoffs. Bulls-Pistons would have been very interesting in winter and early spring as Michael Jordan tried to break the glass ceiling, but the passion of the postseason is what made it a blood sport. Lakers-Kings is the best thing going now in part because Phil Jackson, Rick Fox, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant rile Sacramento, but meeting two years in a row in the playoffs is what pushed it to the real heights.

"It takes years of playing for something that counts," said Mavericks assistant Rolando Blackman, who spent 13 years as an NBA guard and had been though some of wars of his own. "That's what creates a rivalry."

Not the regular seasons. Those can count for something, especially the way these teams love to play 94 feet with track shoes, but the postseason counts for everything.

The emotions get stoked, the pot in the middle of the table grows, there is the possibility of staring at each other for seven games in a row and it's for history. Forever has a way of changing things.

Welcome to the start of their forever.

	“	As far as a great series, this is the one everybody kind of hoped would happen. ”
		— Don Nelson

"We didn't want the Kings," Nelson said. "Whoever was there, fine. If we wanted anybody, Utah has a harder time with us because they can't score and we can. But as far as a great series, this is the one everybody kind of hoped would happen."

There is one problem. These are good people. Damn.

There hasn't been word one yet about things getting cutthroat. If anything, it's the opposite. The real concern in the days leading up to the opener was how many guys would pull a hamstring as they ran to annoint the other team the favorite, the Mavericks saying it has to be the Kings because Sacramento finished with the best record during the regular season and has an inside game, and the Kings saying it has to be the Mavericks because Dallas won three of four in the season series and was so much more impressive in the first round. Can't they all just not get along?

Nowitzki, nothing short of amazing against the Timberwolves, and Stojakovic are good friends. Mark Cuban heaps praise on his Sacramento counterparts, Joe and Gavin Maloof. Hard takedowns have been missing.

"I thought the last two years had been that kind of rivalry," Nelson said of the potential of something big brewing. "But both teams are clean teams, so there's nothing to hang your hat on as far as dirty play. They don't want to go there and neither do we."

They're all going for a best-of-seven for now. Saturday is the start, of the series and of something big.

Around the League