What do the experts know?

A common theme tossed around this weekend is the Mavs being the pick of the “experts” to win this series. Naturally, they downplayed the notion.

“It’s total disrespect for New Orleans,” native son Avery Johnson said. “That’s what it is. A lot of people nationally, they don’t know what they’re talking about for the fact of the matter. Nobody has a crystal ball on who’s going to win, who’s going to lose. Nobody knows.

“All we know is we’re a seventh seed. They’ve had a terrific season. I don’t know what anyone would pick us anyway. They never pick us.”

The reigning MVP isn’t putting much stock in it, either.

“Can’t really worry about what the experts pick,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “They picked us last year to win some games and we lost in the first round. All that doesn’t matter now. It’s about how you perform in the playoffs. The regular season is done.

“Obviously, New Orleans has homecourt advantage. They’ve been great at home all year. We’ve got to find a way to steal one here. We haven’t been great on the road all season long. Hopefully, we can get it together and get some big stops down the stretch and find a way to contain [Chris] Paul somehow.”