Bunched up atop the West

The way the Western Conference is currently set up, and there’s no reason to expect much of a change, 10 teams are fighting it out for eight playoff spots. Unlike years past when there was a clear division between the top seeds and the rest, a case can be made for any of the 10 earning home-court advantage at least in the first round.

Two of the best out West hooked up Friday night, as the Los Angeles Lakers invaded American Airlines Center. Both teams have held the top spot in the conference at some point this season. Both have also been out of the top four.

“The competition is stiff and I think that’s going to keep us on our toes for the rest of the season,” Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. “I don’t see anybody really getting away from each other with seven, eight, nine or 10 games [up] like it’s been in the last couple years.

“I think it’s going to go down to the end, which will be good for us. I kind of like where we were two years ago, where we basically had to play all the way down to the last game.”

The Mavs had the No. 1 seed locked up relatively early last season on the way to 67 wins. Since it doesn’t appear any team will run away with the West, they’ll be plenty of jockeying for position through mid-April.

“I don’t think we’ll be rested,” Devin Harris said. “I don’t know. We’ll see. At this point it really doesn’t matter who we play. We would like to have home-court advantage at some point.

“I don’t think guys are playing as many minutes as we were last year. [Johnson is] trying to keep those minutes down and rely on our bench as much as we can, so hopefully that will keep us fresher for the postseason stretch.”