Mavs have company in playoff-disappointment dept.

	Nick Anderson (right) gets set to make a steal against Michael Jordan in one of the more memorable moments from the Magic's 1995 playoff victory over Chicago. AP

There's a difference between being a "playoff upset victim" and a "playoff disappointment." As the first top seed to lose a seven-game first-rounder to an eighth seed, the Dallas Mavericks, obviously, are both. But they are much more disappointment than upset victim.

At least a half dozen experts from within the game told me before the series that a Golden State victory was not only plausible, but also likely. But I, like most of my fellow pundits in print and on the airwaves, did not listen. It just seemed like the Mavericks would find a way to win, matchup issues notwithstanding.

That got me to thinking about other playoff disappointments -- herewith a five-pack of them. Keep in mind that a couple of these are not major upsets, but they do constitute major disappointments.

1984 Philadelphia 76ers

The previous year's championship team still stands as one of the greatest single-season teams of all time. The Sixers rolled through the playoffs, falling one short of Moses Malone's goal of "'fo, 'fo, fo," his way of saying, "We'll sweep everybody." But with the same legendary players the following year -- Malone, Julius Erving, Andrew Toney, Maurice Cheeks and Bobby Jones -- Philadelphia was unceremoniously dumped by the New Jersey Nets in the first round. The Nets won Game 5 101-98 on Philly's floor, ending a series in which the visiting team won every game.

Sure, the Nets were good, with solid pros like Buck Williams and Albert King and sideshow phenoms like Michael Ray Richardson and Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins. But the 76ers were NBA royalty.

1986 Los Angeles Lakers

This was the first year I covered the league and I remember asking an editor early in the season, "What if I write a story calling the Lakers the greatest team of all time?" It seemed legit to me. They had won it all in '85, and that killer Showtime lineup that featured Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Byron Scott was still at the top of its game. Fortunately, the editor said, "Let's hold off on that."

Wise decision. After the Lakers won Game 1 of the Western finals, they lost four in a row to the Houston Rockets, the last an ignominious 114-112 defeat at the Forum. That game marked the apex of Ralph Sampson's career as he put in an awkward turnaround to win it.

It was also a wake-up call for the Lakers, who rededicated themselves to excellence and won two titles in a row, beginning in '87.

1994 Seattle Supersonics

The NBA was searching for a new direction after Michael Jordan had retired (temporarily) after the previous season (see below). That direction seemed to be Northwest. The Sonics had put together a terrific team led by man-child Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, sleepy-eyed, sharp-shooting Sam Perkins, versatile Detlef Schrempf and point-a-minute-man Ricky Pierce. With a feisty young George Karl calling the shots, the Sonics won 63 games.

But against the lightly regarded Denver Nuggets in the first round, the Sonics went gently into that good night, losing Game 5 at home 98-94 in overtime. (In case you were chronicling the career of LaPhonso Ellis, the Nuggets' injury-riddled forward, that was the highlight.) As with the Sacramento Kings almost a decade later (see below), the Seattle franchise has never gotten over it.

1995 Chicago Bulls

Jordan was not quite Superman. We just couldn't quite believe it at the time. After retiring to play baseball in '94, Jordan returned late in the following season, putting a legendary 55-point whupping on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden in just his fifth game back. Was there anybody who didn't believe he could carry the Bulls all the way?

But in the Eastern semis a young Shaquille O'Neal-led Orlando Magic team beat the Bulls 4-2, the lasting image of that series being Nick Anderson poking the ball out of Jordan's grasp late in Game 1. And it wasn't like the Magic were that good -- they got swept in the NBA Finals by the Houston Rockets.

Like the '86 Lakers, though, the Bulls regrouped. They used that playoff loss as motivation and won three in a row from '96 to '98.

2002 Sacramento Kings

Could we really call losing to a Los Angeles Lakers team that featured Shaq and Kobe Bryant an upset? No. But there is no doubt that this Kings team was a disappointment.

Yes, it had lost a heartbreaking Game 4 of the Western finals in Los Angeles on Robert Horry's miracle shot at the buzzer, and, yes, it was victimized by many questionable calls in Game 6, also in L.A. But the series was Sac's to win with a Sunday afternoon Game 7 in Cowbell Country.

Alas, the Kings forgot how to shoot free throws and everyone except Mike Bibby (especially Peja Stojakovic and Chris Webber) played as if they had 80-pound weights on their arms. The Lakers won 112-106 in overtime, and the Kings' franchise has not returned to prominence since.