Mavericks-Nuggets: Game 2 Tonight at 9:30.

The Dallas Mavericks come into game 2 tonight down 0-1 in their best of 7 game series with the Denver Nuggets. Although the Mavs did lose by 14 points in their game 1 defeat, the score was not as lopsided as the play indicated throughout the game. While 14 points is troubling, Denver did do what they are supposed to do: win at home. That's why all these teams jockey for position during the regular season so that they can play at home and win. The Mavericks led by as much as 14 points in the first quarter of game 1 but really just let the game get away from them at the end of the half and the end of the game. Dallas has a chance to win an ugly one in Denver tonight and give themselves the home court advantage.

Three Keys to Steal One On the Road:

1. Jason Kidd must play like he did all season long. Granted, he did score 15 points in game 1 which is all fun and good but he only dished out 4 assists and had 8 turnovers with many of those unforced. Jason Kidd had 3 turnovers the entire series against San Antonio. Dallas has relied on J-Kidd all season long to get the team easy baskets and to guide players on the floor to good transition bucket opportunities. I believe Kidd will take game 1 for what it was; an embarrassing performance and not only will he move on but he will not make the same mistakes that he did in game 1. If he can keep hitting his shots while getting Josh Howard, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, and other Mavs scorers open looks at the basket; the Mavericks have a good shot at winning game 2.
   
2. Erick Dampier and Josh Howard must be healthy enough not only to play, but make a difference. Both players rolled an ankle in game 1. Both players came back from the injury later in the game and didn't play like themselves. Most reports are that Dampier feels good and hasn't had much of a problem with the ankle, so he will be good to go. Will he be an impact player? That's another story as no one got that great of a look at what he could do on the floor as he was injured in the middle of the first quarter. He had 5 boards before going out in the first but only 1 more for the rest of the game. Howard on the other hand now has 2 bad ankles. The left ankle is going to require off-season surgery and now he rolled his right one and it is in considerable pain. J-Ho says he will go no matter what but he also stated that driving to the basket would be much more difficult with two faulty ankles. I like Howard as a slasher to the basket who occasionally uses that against his defender to get an open mid-range or 3-point shot. I don't like Howard as a mid-range fall-away jump shooter who has stated to the media that he can't drive to the basket so now the other team knows he is one-dimensional. Can he be an impact player if he's unable to drive to the basket? NO.
3. Someone outside of Dirk, J-Ho, Jason Terry, and J-Kidd must give the Mavericks a consistent offensive presence. I wrote about this after game 1 and I'll do it again, the role players on the Mavs completely let this team down Sunday in Denver. In order for the Mavericks to win they have to have some sort of production from the two players who gave them the most in round 1: Brandon Bass and Jose Juan Barea. Brandon Bass had 2 points in game 1 on 24% shooting. He averaged 8 points per game against the Spurs while shooting 56% from the floor. His production must increase as he will likely see more minutes if Damp is ineffective. JJ Barea started again for the Mavericks and he only scored 4 points but did contribute with 5 assists. Barea has to show that fearlessness going to the basket that he showed in the first round of the playoffs, in which he averaged 10 points per. JJB can be a difference maker, even against a bigger and more athletic Denver team.

The Denver Nuggets will likely continue with their plan on defense to play Dirk one-on-one. This means Nowitzki will again get 25+ points in game 2. Jason Kidd will likely have a rebound game and won't commit the costly unforced turnovers he did in game 1. Howard will be gimpy, but I can see an average performance for him. The thing that gets lost in the first game of the series is how poorly the Mavericks played defense, especially underneath the basket. Denver treated Dallas like they were running a lay-up drill for them and when the layups didn't go in they got sent to the line 36 times. The Mavericks have to play better team defense and that means that coach Rick Carlisle might have to again tinker with playing the zone more. Also I can see that free throw discrepancy coming back to the Mavs favor as the new Refs try to make up for the game 1 debacle. This, however, will not matter as Denver is a great home team and will likely beat the hell out of the Mavericks again.

Denver Wins, Lead Series 2-0.