If the Mavericks fail to re-sign Jason Terry, who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1, they could logically replace him with Sam Cassell.

The starting point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers, Cassell also becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. And it's no guarantee that he'll stay in LA or that Terry will remain with the Mavs.

"I'd like to stay in LA, but who knows," Cassell said Tuesday. "I'm playing basketball, and I feel good."

No one can assure that the Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs will meet in the playoffs.

But the probability of that encounter ? and the fact it would take place in the second round ? has NBA officials starting to question whether the system is flawed.

The plight of the top teams in the Southwest Division wasn't a front-burner issue at a meeting of the league's competition committee. But deputy commissioner Russ Granik said the committee will gather information about the seeding format and place the topic on its agenda in June.

"My view is that there are just a lot of anomalies that come into play when you talk about playoff pairings, particularly in the first rounds," Granik said. "I think the concern this year is because we have two teams in the West that seem to be way ahead of everybody else."

The Mavericks lead the Western Conference with a 41-11 record. The Spurs are next at 40-12. The Phoenix Suns trails the Spurs by five games in the standings.

If the season ended today, the Mavericks would land the No. 1 seed under the current format. The Suns would be No. 2 and Denver, with a record of 28-26, would be the No. 3 seed. Both of those teams would be seeded ahead of San Antonio because they won their divisions.

"Obviously, there will be issues, no matter what the system," commissioner David Stern said. "I'm sort of disinclined to change it, but we're going to get the data, and maybe something will emerge from a little data mining that will suggest that we have it all wrong, or a little bit wrong, and then we'll make the change."

Any potential change in format would not take place until the 2006-07 season.

Dirk Nowitzki barely escaped the first round. A few minutes later, he was finally the 3-point champion.

Nowitzki won the title Saturday night after coming close twice before, beating Gilbert Arenas and Ray Allen at All-Star weekend.

With Dallas teammate Jason Terry and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban looking on from the sideline, the 7-foot German finished with 18 points. Arenas had 16 points and Allen, the 2001 champion, had 15.

Nowitzki finished second in the 3-point contest in 2000 and third the next year. He got off to a quick start in the finals Saturday night, making eight of his first 10 shots and going 15-of-25 in the final round.

"That's kind of my game," Nowitzki said. "I'm going to shoot it first and everything else is second."

Denver Nuggets center Marcus Camby was inactive for Friday night's game against the Western Conference-leading Dallas Mavericks because of a lower back strain.

Camby's back tightened overnight, the team said. He is listed as day to day.

Camby is averaging 14.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. He has missed 20 games this season because of injury -- 15 with a broken right pinkie.

Miami lost 112-76 to the Mavericks at American Airlines Center in its worst loss of the season.

''That was painful, absolutely painful,'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. ``I coached an absolutely awful game, terrible game plan. The pick-and-roll schemes, everything.

``I'm not going to take full responsibility for it, but it was a total breakdown, an absolute breakdown.'

Mark Cuban, owner of the Mavericks, posted the following on his blog today:

I Own Phil Jackson.

Not literally of course. That thrill belongs to the smartest businesswoman in professional sports,  Jeannie Buss. Figuratively however, the coach formerly known as the Zen Master  must now be considered my bucket boy.

This wasnt an acquisition I proactively pursued. There wasnt an official competition that I won, thereby confirming my dominance of his psyche. Instead Phil has initiated an ongoing commentary about me that started in his previous stint with the Lakers and was reinstated this year with his return, that proves that I own the guy.

For whatever reason, I have gotten to Phil so completely and thoroughly that every time he comes to Dallas  he has to offer unsolicited comments about me to the media.  I wonder if he dreams about me the nights he spends here in Dallas. Ok, I dont wonder. Im curious about it.

How can the NBA coach with so many championship rings find me so intimidating? I really dont know, but he said as much in December when he called me an ?intimidating force? to the LA Times

?consider a place like Dallas, where the owner runs around, pumps up the volume, intimidates the referees and ? has announcers as hired cheerleaders, which is an intimidating force.?