Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs woke up Tuesday facing a new identity: They're no longer the best team in the NBA, the Western Conference or even their division.

Heck, they're not even the best in Texas.

The Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Spurs in a tremendous second-round series, winning Game 7 in overtime Monday night and tipping the balance of power in what can now be called a great rivalry.

"It was so close - two overtimes, three games by one or two points, it was very good basketball,'' San Antonio point guard Tony Parker said. "It just didn't go our way.''

The Spurs trailed 3-1 in the series and were down by 20 in Game 7, despite being at home. They rallied to take their first lead in the closing minutes, but couldn't hold it.

"We had a last chance to make the shot and win the game and the series,'' said Manu Ginobili, who fouled Dirk Nowitzki on a layup with 21 seconds left in regulation, leading to the tying point, then missed a potential winning shot with about 6 seconds left.

"It is hard. You have to move on and go on from it.''

The Spurs long have been the bullies along Interstate 35, collecting division titles and championships while the Mavericks kept changing players and identities. San Antonio respected Dallas, but never doubted it was the better team.

This series changes that. And with former San Antonio star Avery Johnson having used his version of Popovich's system against them, the Spurs face the legitimate concern that the Mavericks are the team with the brighter future.

Dallas proved to be younger, faster, deeper and more balanced than the Spurs. Sure, it took an entire series and then some to prove it - and even then only barely - but those tiny differences tend to get wider over time.

So it's only logical to expect whatever moves Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford make in the coming months will be done to help them match up with the Mavericks.

The Spurs certainly won't overhaul anything. This team did just set a franchise record for regular-season wins and is coming off two titles in three years and three in seven.

Even if they wanted to, it wouldn't be easy. San Antonio already has 10 players under contract for next season.

The most significant free agent is center Nazr Mohammed, who hardly played against Dallas as Popovich went mostly with Duncan and four players 6-foot-7 and under. Reserve Nick Van Exel has talked about retiring.

Free agents may consider taking less to play with Duncan, Parker and Ginobili, and to be part of a winning organization. That's what lured Michael Finley, who started two playoff games.

Other than trades, San Antonio may look overseas. The Spurs own the rights to Ginobili's fellow Argentine Luis Scola, a 26-year-old power forward; Parker's fellow Frenchman Ian Mahinmi, a 19-year-old power forward; and Lithuania's Robertas Javtokas, a 26-year-old center.

The ages of those players might be especially intriguing.

The 24-year-old Parker and the 28-year-old Ginobili were the only 20-somethings San Antonio used in Game 7.

While Duncan turned 30 during the first round and proved he's still in the prime of his career (41 points in Game 7, career-best 32.3 per game vs. Dallas) and defensive whiz Bruce Bowen shows no signs of turning 35 next month, time is ticking for the rest of the Spurs.

Finley, a reserve most of the season, is 33. The three players who came off the bench were 34-year-olds Van Exel and Brent Barry, and 35-year-old Robert Horry.

Considering the reserves scored two points Monday night, adding players with younger, fresher legs who can provide Popovich with more scoring options and more lineup combinations might be high on the offseason to-do list.

The Mavericks, and the rest of the NBA, certainly are bracing for San Antonio to remain tough.

"This is the best series I've ever played,'' Duncan said. "It was about the ball, whether the ball bounced one way or another, and the result is just how it bounced.''

The San Antonio Spurs attempt to win their fourth straight game when they visit the Utah Jazz tonight at the Delta Center. San Antonio opens a season-long eight game road trip this evening. On Saturday, Tim Duncan had 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Spurs to a 102-88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at the AT&T Center. Tony Parker scored 25 points and Manu Ginobili returned to action with 14 points for the Spurs, who have won seven of their last eight games overall. Ginobili had missed three games with a sprained ankle. The Spurs are 13-7 on the road this season. They will also visit Portland, Golden State, Toronto, New Jersey, Indiana, Cleveland and Philadelphia on the trip. San Antonio is tied with the red-hot Dallas Mavericks for first place in the Southwest Division. Utah will try and halt a two-game losing streak as it begins a three-game homestand. On Saturday, Josh Howard netted 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the streaking Mavericks over the Jazz, 103-89, at American Airlines Center. Devin Brown ended with 18 points in the loss to Dallas for the Jazz, who have dropped four of their last five games overall. Andrei Kirilenko finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Mehmet Okur contributed 16 points in defeat. The Jazz, who will also host Denver and Sacramento on the current stand, are just 10-11 at the Delta Center this season. This is the first meeting of the season between the clubs. The Jazz have won two of the last three contests in this series, while San Antonio has lost two straight at Utah.

Tim Duncan had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead San Antonio to a 103-79 victory over the winless Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

"The team kept their composure well when we were down," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They didn't try to come back quickly 1-on-1. They did it as a team."

Duncan bounced back from a sluggish performance in a loss to Washington on Saturday, when he shot 3-for-18 from the field and scored only 11 points.

Manu Ginobili had 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting for the Spurs, who have beaten the Hawks eight straight times at home and 11 of 12 overall. Tony Parker finished with 18 points.

"The first quarter was really bad for us tonight," Ginobili said. "We played better and more aggressively as the game went on."

Al Harrington led the Hawks with a season-high 23 points and nine rebounds. He scored Atlanta's first 14 points and shot 10-for-15 in the first quarter to help the Hawks build a 31-18 lead. The Spurs struggled to find the basket and turned the ball over five times in the first.

Harrington struggled in the second and San Antonio rallied to tie the score 52-all at halftime. Duncan, Parker and Ginobili combined to score 30 points, and Harrington missed both of his shots in the quarter.

"I heard Pop say he was tired of that guy getting off, and it was really tough to get anything 1-on-1 after that," Harrington said. "They made some good adjustments and really took me out of my game."

Parker and Bruce Bowen combined to limit Atlanta guard Joe Johnson to 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, far below his 19.5 average.

"That's why they're the champs," Johnson said. "They fought hard. Pop made some adjustments that really slowed us down, and we never got back in rhythm."

The Hawks, who lost to Memphis on a last-second putback Saturday, dropped their seventh straight. Yet coach Mike Woodson believes the team's first victory is close at hand.

"Sometimes it's like we are our own worst enemy," he said. "We have stretches where we don't shoot. We don't defend," he said. "When San Antonio turned up their defense, we needed to turn up ours. If we play the way I know we can play for 48 minutes, then we can compete."

Notes: Atlanta's Tony Delk and the Spurs' Brent Barry (low back sprain) and Michael Finley (left groin tightness) were on the inactive list. ... Atlanta leads the all-time series with San Antonio 34-33. ... The Hawks have used four different starting lineups in the first seven games of the season.

McGrady returned to the Rockets' lineup Saturday after missing three games, and the Spurs wouldn't mind if he had to miss this one. They still recall McGrady's 13-points-in-35 seconds spurt that cost them a victory in Houston last season.

The Spurs should get at least one of their injured swing men back in action for this game. Michael Finley has missed the past four games with a strained groin. Brent Barry also missed the past four games, with a lower back strain.

Rasho Nesterovic remains the starting center and likely will start against Yao Ming, but he got a very quick hook from coach Gregg Popovich in Tuesday's game, playing only 10 minutes. That could portend a switch back to Nazr Mohammed, though Mohammed played only six minutes on Tuesday.

REPLAY: It was evident the Spurs weren't entirely motivated at the outset of their 103-79 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday. Although San Antonio jumped out to a 6-2 lead against one of the league's two remaining winless teams, that early margin served only to decrease their intensity even more. When Atlanta's Al Harrington caught fire in the first quarter, the Spurs had no answer for him.

Harrington made 10 of 15 shots in the first period and scored 22 in the quarter. By quarter's end, Popovich had yanked all of his starters, gong deep into his bench and giving Sean Marks and Melvin Sanders their earliest calls of the season.

There is no telling what the Hawks were thinking when the first period ended and they led the defending champions 31-18, but it must have been something along the lines of, "What are we doing here?" By halftime, they no longer were there. The Spurs had erased the 13-point lead, tied the score and found a way to control Harrington.

The Spurs dominated the final three quarters, outscoring the Hawks 85-48, as if to punish them for having embarrassed them briefly.

"We got a great boost from the bench play," Popovich said. "We came up with some combinations that worked for us. The team kept our composure well when we were down. They didn't try to come back quickly or one-on-one. The best part of the game was they kept their composure."