The Dallas Mavericks are one of the surprise teams in the Western Conference. Nobody thought they would be awful, but few expected a bounce back like this from Jason Kidd whose effect on the court is not illustrated in his stats. The team is in first place in the insanely deep Southwest Division. Mavericks tickets are suddenly tickets to see a serious title contender once again.

The fans at American Airlines Center are not only seeing a Kidd playing well again, but an impressive performance by Dirk Nowitzki. Nowitzki is averaging 25.1 points and 8.2 rebounds a game while shooting 47 percent from the field, 40.3 percent from three, and 89.4 percent from the free throw line. He is not quite back to MVP form, but he is a wily veteran that has learned to embrace his size in the post while remaining a solid jump shooting 7-footer. He is a freak of nature and has taken the lead on this team.

Nowitzki does not have to dominate every night. Jason Terry, Josh Howard, and even Shawn Marion all take turns shellacking opponents. Marion is the biggest surprise of the bunch. Marion was supposed to be finished as the X-man. Instead he remains as effective a glue player as ever. This means that he may dominate the boards one night, score big another, or shut down the other team’s scorer another.

Dallas has size to contend with the best this season. Erik Dampier may not blow people out of the water, but he is a good center with size. Drew Gooden has settled into a supportive role and gives another scoring option at the four or five. Even Tim Thomas is playing like a respectable professional basketball player.

The Mavs could be big trouble down the road for other elite teams in the Western Conference. They have the talent, athleticism, and veteran experience to make a serious run despite not necessarily being mentioned in the same breath as the Lakers and Celtics.