Inside Report: No. 4 Thunder (0-0) at No. 3 Mavericks (0-0) — Game 1 preview

Earl K. Sneed previews Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, as the Dallas Mavericks try to shake off a nine-day layoff in time to host a young Oklahoma City Thunder team.

DALLAS — Experience versus youth. Rest versus rust. Both situations figure to play themselves out in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night in Dallas.

Just four wins stand in between the NBA’s promise land for both the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Just four wins and the Mavericks will have an opportunity to redeem themselves for a 2006 Finals loss.

After the Mavericks swept their way through the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, the team from Big D was forced to watch and wait patiently while the Thunder slugged it out in a seven-game series with the Memphis Grizzlies. Now, nine days after dethroning the champs, a well-rested, veteran-led Mavs squad will take the court at the American Airlines Center with the home-court advantage in the series, needing to fight through their neighbors from north on Interstate 35 in order to continue their championship chase.

“You can’t be penalized for winning your series. You did your work, got it in four, and now we get to play every other day,” Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd said of the layoff. ”I think the big thing is we feel good. We’re happy that we’re playing. We’re starting this series. We would have liked to start on Sunday, but now it’s here and the rest that we had is over with. We’ve gotta start playing basketball.”

But after many so-called experts picked against the Mavericks in both their opening-round series against Portland and again against the Lakers, the team will head into the Conference Finals no longer as the underdog but instead as the favorite to represent the West in the Finals against the Eastern champs.

“A lot of people are doubting what we can do. And still, we beat the Lakers, we got out of the second round, the job is not finished,” Mavericks sixth man Jason Terry said after a 32-point effort in Game 4 against the Lakers, tying an NBA playoff record with a 9-for-10 shooting performance from 3-point range.

“From Day 1 when we started in training camp, we set goals for ourselves and we set the bar real high,” he added. “[Beating the Lakers] was great, I don’t want to understate the meaning of this victory and getting out of the second round, but we’re back in the Western Conference Finals and it’s been awhile.”

To have another opportunity at being crowned champions of the basketball world, however, the Mavericks admit that they will have to again rely on their overall team depth.

Hoping to build off a 122-86 win to complete the sweep of the Lakers, the Mavericks will once again have a deep bench at their disposal, after the Dallas reserves matched L.A.’s total scoring output with 86 points off the pine. And with back-to-back scoring champion Kevin Durant and Second-Team All-NBA selection Russell Westbrook looking to play the role of spoilers, the Mavs will once again call on their bench after taking two of three from Oklahoma City during the regular season, all of which were played before a mid-season shakeup that sent former Boston Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder in exchange for forward Jeff Green and center Nenad Krstic.

“Oklahoma City looks different, because we didn’t see them when they made the trade. So, their personnel is much different,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle explained. “Look, they had a great year last year. They took the Lakers to six games, so their season was viewed as very positive. … They’ve gained a lot of confidence. Westbrook and Durant have continued to get better, and because of the trade Krstic and Green were both guys that got shots when they were structured that way before. Now, the ball is in Westbrook’s and Durant’s and [James] Harden’s hands more and their better players are getting a higher concentration of shots, which means they’re a better team.”

Durant figures to see multiple bodies at the defensive end throughout the course of the series, with Dallas’ lockdown perimeter defenders Shawn Marion and DeShawn Stevenson likely being the main culprits. Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Kidd will have the task of slowing down the cat-quick Westbrook, 22, with the ageless veteran looking to neutralize the athleticism of the Thunder’s floor general by making him take contested jump shots instead of living in the lane.

“You’ve got to make him do something. He’s starting to be comfortable shooting the jump shot, so at this part you’ve got to just make it tough, tip your hat when he does make jump shots and again, you try to keep him out of the paint. That’s easier said than done, because he can get to the basket whenever he wants,” Kidd said of defending Westbrook.

And while the Mavericks will try to slow down the dynamic duo of Durant and Westbrook, Terry and the Dallas reserves will try to outduel Harden and Oklahoma City’s lethal second unit. But much like the Mavs’ series-clinching Game 4 win — when Terry led the Dallas bench and his team to victory — over the Lakers, the Mavericks will once again look for a well-rounded night from their reserves in order to take Game 1 in front of a blue-out capacity crowd.

“I’m trying to outperform their entire bench,” Terry confidently said. “That’s what I do. So, collectively our bench, again, is not always talked about, but in this series I think it’s gonna be a situation where whichever bench comes to play and outplays the other one has the advantage.”

And as a team, the Mavericks will try to collectively fuse together their career playoff journeys when facing off with the upstart Thunder, looking to feed off the experience that comes with the combined four Finals appearances of Kidd, Terry and Dirk Nowitzki. And despite the long layoff in between games and the Thunder’s youthful athleticism, the Mavs are drawing confidence from going down this same road before.

“You’ve got to put them in a position they haven’t been in to be able to use that experience. If you don’t then they’re just as talented as any of the teams left in the playoffs,” Kidd said.

“We pride ourselves on being veterans, being guys that have been in this position plenty of times,” Terry added. “So, we take that in and use it as an advantage. Will it factor in? You never know. If it does, obviously we’ve definitely got a deep, veteran team that has been here before.”

Note: The Mavericks will host the Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night, with every game in the series tipping off at 8 p.m. CT and airing nationally on ESPN with matchups coming every other day. Great seats are still available and tickets can be purchased by visiting the American Airlines Center box office, logging on to Mavs.com or by calling 214-747-MAVS (6287).

All remaining the Mavs’ home playoff games at American Airlines Center will be a MAVS ROYAL BLUE-OUT!

Every seat at the American Airlines Center will have a MAVS ROYAL BLUE playoff T-shirt placed in it. We need for you and every Mavs fan to show their Mavs pride. So, dress ready to put on your MAVS ROYAL BLUE playoff T-shirt when you get to your seat.