League insiders break down the four West matchups

	Monta Ellis is a key part of the small-ball lineup that the Warriors will throw at Dallas. AP

SI.com's Ian Thomsen interviewed four NBA advance scouts -- two from each conference -- to break down the first round of the playoffs. For analysis of the East series, click here.

No. 1 Mavericks vs. No. 8 Warriors

"For a 1 vs. 8 matchup, this is a pretty good series. If Golden State would have made its big midseason trade earlier -- if it had started with this current group in midseason -- it would have finished higher than the No. 8 seed.

"The Warriors are going to try to dictate matchups like Nellie [coach] Don Nelson] always does -- they'll go small and eliminate some of the things Dallas tries to do defensively with its big lineup. If the Warriors do that well, they'll have a series. But the Mavericks are pretty deep themselves -- they can put a good small lineup on the floor too.

"The fact that the Mavericks were 0-3 against them [in the regular season] doesn't necessarily give the Warriors a psychological advantage. What it means is that they're not at a psychological disadvantage going up against the Mavs. This was the best team in the league and at least the Warriors know they can match up.

"When Baron Davis is going good, he's a tough matchup for anybody because he gets into the paint, he shoots threes, and with the floor spread he can beat teams. Then they're able to neutralize Devin Harris with Monta Ellis if he's performing at a high level. You don't know if he can maintain that during the playoffs, but Ellis gives the Warriors a double-point-guard lineup to match up with Dallas' double-point-guard lineup of Harris and Jason Terry. Now it's a matter of who has the better matchup? But for Golden State, it's designed to open the floor up.

"The trade made the Warriors more athletic, which they and a lot of other people felt they needed. On top of that, [Al] Harrington and [Stephen] Jackson are multiposition players -- the term now is they're just "basketball players.'' Both are guys who can score for themselves, while Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy were guys who needed to score off other people.

"The Mavericks will just have to do what they do best and stick with it, and not get caught up in Nellie trying to junk up the game. Against a team like Golden State, you need your players to play good solid individual defense. Hold down your guy so he beats you maybe 40 percent of the time, but you're not going to get help from the weak side because that turns it into a scramble game and that's exactly what Nellie wants. The Mavs need to execute and not beat themselves. Let the Warriors make the mistakes.

"In the end the Mavs need Dirk Nowitzki to win this series for them, because I don't know who can guard him for the Warriors. They'll show different looks on him, different defenders and a little bit of zone. Nowitzki is the premier guy and that's the way it should be: The MVP should win the series."

Scout's pick: "Ultimately they'll figure each other out, and Dallas will get them in six games."