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NEW ORLEANS – No move can guarantee a championship.

That's what the Mavericks and Phoenix Suns told us in February after they traded for Jason Kidd and Shaquille O'Neal. No matter what you thought of the deals, the two franchises deserved your admiration for going all in.

Now, the Mavericks and Suns are each one loss from being all out.

That's the downside when a team makes a bold move. Fans are willing to accept the reward, but they find the risk hard to stomach. If the Mavericks and Suns fail to get out of the first round, admiration gives way to recrimination.

These teams did more than add key players. They altered the fundamental makeup of their rosters with precious little time to get everyone on the same page before the playoffs began.

The result: The Suns are down 3-1 to a San Antonio team that is the established power in the Western Conference. The Mavericks are down 3-1 to a New Orleans team that is on the rise.

Lose, and the Suns and Mavericks must search for their place in the competitive pecking order heading into next season.

Lose, and it's hard to imagine the clubs will return with rosters and coaching staffs intact.

That comes on the back end of making a bold move that backfired.

"Whenever you do something or make a decision, I think there are going to be ramifications of that decision," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said.

"Whatever decisions that were made, it will have to be discussed at a later time. Right now, we're still alive. And we don't want to really get down on any player. You guys [media] get down on me.

"But we don't want to get down on any player or decision. We have to let it run its course, and then we'll have to [convene] after, whenever that is, and we'll take a look at it, put everything on the board and see at that point what we did."

Was it worth it? What to do from here? Those are the questions the Mavericks and Suns will ask themselves if the Hornets and Spurs put them out of their misery.

And what has happened to these fierce, Western Conference matchups we all anticipated? Every series could be over in five games or less as the top four seeds advance. The results so far indicate the gap between the top four teams and the rest of the conference is greater than these also-rans care to admit.

All of that being said, ask this question: Did the Mavericks and Suns trade themselves out of a title this season?

Were the Mavericks going to win before they acquired Kidd? The Suns couldn't get past San Antonio before they traded for O'Neal. What makes anyone think this would have been the season they would have broken through?

"The easiest thing to do is nothing," Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said.

Doing nothing isn't a problem for the Suns and Mavericks.

Getting out of the first round is.

"Right now, more than anything, our players and the coaching staff, we're going to see what we're made of," Johnson said. "This is a single-elimination game. It's not about getting a terrific grade on defense and not winning or playing great offense. This is a must win.

"Maybe this is where we wanted to be."

If that's the case, congratulations are in order for both teams.

We doubt their fans will view it the same way.