Perhaps Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban learned that lesson in his team's five-game drubbing at the hands of the Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference semifinals. Then again, perhaps not.

Cuban should have learned that he can shell out a ton of cash on the best players and a sparkling new arena with all the amenities to make those wealthy young players comfortably numb, but all of his dot-com billions can't buy an NBA title. It can't even buy a Western Conference title.

He should have learned that you can win 57 regular-season games by running past people, but that won't get it done in the playoffs. Not even against the Kings.

So while Sacramento advances to the conference championship series for the first time since 1981, when the franchise was in Kansas City, the Mavericks, for whom this was supposed to be "the year," are back in Dallas, wondering what hit them.

Why?

Because the Kings, who never will be confused for leeches on defense, looked like the '89 Detroit Pistons -- yeah, the body-slamming Bad Boys -- compared to Dallas. The Mavericks? Their defense was a joke.