Road To Perdiction

Ah, a road trip through Texas—it used to be so much fun for NBA players. A stroll along San Antonio's picturesque Riverwalk. A quiet dinner in a ritzy North Dallas eatery. A clandestine excursion to one of those high-class "gentlemen's clubs" in Houston. You could stretch the legs, pamper the palate, unleash the libido and still come away with at least one win, maybe two.

Not anymore. Texas has become a perilous place for guests; just ask the Nets. Last year's Eastern champs arrived on March 3 with a conference-best record of 38-22. They lost to the Mavericks 88-79 the next night, got ambushed by the Spurs 92-78 last Thursday and wrapped up a painful Texas Three-Step by being stomped by the Rockets 83-71 last Saturday. After recovering to beat the Hornets in New Orleans on Sunday 102-92, the Nets limped home with a tenuous 1�-game lead in the Atlantic Division. "Any road trip, you're happy to get it over with," says New Jersey guard Lucious Harris. "But this one, we're especially happy."

The Nets aren't the first visitors from the East to get Texas-barbecued this season: At week's end Eastern teams had gone 4-32 in the Lone Star State. Even the better Western clubs have taken some licks in Texas. The Kings and the Timberwolves have lost both of their games in Houston and one each in San Antonio. The T-Wolves have also gone down in Big D. The Lakers were 0-3 in Texas, and the Trail Blazers have lost in both Dallas and Houston. The combined record of those Western powers on trips to the state: 5-12.

Not since 1989-90, the last season in which all three Texas teams qualified for the playoffs, have so many been bushwhacked. During much of the '90s the Mavericks were one of the league's doormats; their 48-14 record through Sunday was the best in the NBA. San Antonio's 43-18 mark was third best. And in the middle of the struggle for a playoff spot were the Rockets, who, at 32-30, had already won four more games than they did last year.

Each member of the Texas trio boasts an All-Star skyscraper: 7-footers Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas and Tim Duncan in San Antonio and 7'5" Yao Ming in Houston. All three teams have a certain frenetic element, too, the Mavs' supplied by the whirligig shot making of point guard Steve Nash, the Spurs' by the derring-do of Argentine swingman Manu Ginobili and the Rockets' by the unpredictable racehorse backcourt of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

Then, too, the Texas teams have distinct styles, making multistop trips to the state even more difficult; teams that have hit all three cities in one swing are a combined 2-13. Dallas, the NBA's highest-scoring outfit (102.6 points per game at week's end), runs opponents into submission and bewilders them with a mixture of zones. The Spurs are a hard-nosed bunch who rely on man-to-man D and the shot blocking of Duncan and, when he's healthy, David Robinson to hold opponents to a league-low shooting percentage (41.9). The Rockets are an amalgam of their Texas rivals, still trying to find a balance between Francis's open-court brilliance and Yao's blossoming low-post presence; they're not nearly as consistent as the other two, but when they're on, they're as good as anyone. Says a weary Harris, "I guess that's why they say, Don't mess with Texas."