Who says NBA teams don't game-plan? SI went behind closed doors with the Mavericks and the Suns to see how the two rivals strategized for their Western Conference showdown

	Two of the Suns' priorities were to keep Terry (opposite, with ball) from getting open looks off the pick-and-roll and to crowd Nowitzki (screening Barbosa). Greg Nelson/SI

With about five minutes left in Sunday's game at US Airways Center in Phoenix, the Dallas Mavericks went to a matchup zone, their dozenth defense of the afternoon. The Suns appeared confused, but eventually forward Shawn Marion darted to his left across the lane and put up a righthanded floater that was nearly blocked. It was an awful-looking shot. It also went in, giving Phoenix a 109-96 lead that all but sealed its 126-104 victory.

To some, the shot said it all about NBA basketball, 48 minutes of seemingly spontaneous, even chaotic action packed into 24-second intervals. While football coaches plan with the precision of generals and baseball managers rely on cold, hard percentages (not to mention countless bromides), basketball coaches can apparently do nothing to affect the outcome. They're left to pace the sideline, scream at referees and add a sweat-ring pattern to their Armani suits as their players ad lib.

Not the case. When the league's two best teams took the court, they did so with meticulously calibrated game plans in place. In fact, every NBA team goes into a game with a plan, even the Memphis Grizzlies, who appear to have no plan at all except to lose as often as possible and add Greg Oden or Kevin Durant to their roster. The schemes of the Mavs and the Suns were more hastily constructed than ones in the NFL (both teams had played last Friday night) and were extremely fluid. But they had been formulated -- just as those in the NFL are -- only after hours of film watching and with an attention to detail that would amaze even an aficionado, never mind the guy who thinks the NBA stands for No Brainpower Allowed.

With the win Phoenix tied the season series at 2-2, took a 12-11 edge (playoff games included) in meetings over the last three years and added further intrigue to the MVP race. Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki probably had a slight edge going in but had a subpar game (21 points on 6-of-18 shooting), while Suns point guard Steve Nash had 23 on seven fewer shots to go with 11 assists.

But those stats are only numbers. Before the teams took the court, they gave SI a glimpse into their pregame strategies. It's possible they will meet in the playoffs for the third straight year, so as Phoenix assistant Marc Iavaroni said, "We're not going to throw everything out there, and neither are they."