Inside Report: No. 2 Lakers (0-2) at No. 3 Mavericks (2-0) — Game 3 preview

Earl K. Sneed previews Friday night's Game 3 between the Dallas Mavericks and two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, as the Mavs return to Big D with a 2-0 series lead looking to put the reigning titleholders in a 0-3 hole.

DALLAS — Mission No. 1 is accomplished. Now, a new challenge awaits the Dallas Mavericks as they return home from Los Angeles up two games to none on the two-time defending champion Lakers with Games 3 and 4 center stage of the basketball world.

Perhaps only the Mavericks’ players and coaching staff saw this coming, as the team went into the Staples Center against all odds in Games 1 and 2 of its second-round series and came out with a 2-0 lead. And after defeating the Lakers twice in their own backyard, the Mavs return to their own friendly confines at the American Airlines Center looking to finish the staggering reigning champs off.

But before taking the court in search of a 3-0 lead in the series, the Mavericks say that they will need help from their hometown fans, hoping to force the Lakers to battle both the opposing team on the floor and the frenzy fans in the stands.

“Right now the important thing for us is to get rest [before Friday night’s game] and appeal to our fans that we have to have the American Airlines Center as loud as Portland was, ‘cause that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard a building,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said as the Mavs return home riding a four-game playoff winning streak since closing out the Trail Blazers in six games during the first round.

He added: “We’re gonna need every gun blazing and throw the kitchen sink at these guys when they come into our place, because this is a great team, a championship team, and to knock them off you’ve gotta concentrate and focus every single second.”

But with Friday night’s contest the only thing standing in the way of putting the Lakers in a seemingly insurmountable position — if L.A. were to drop another game to fall down 0-3 in the best-of-seven series and face a margin no team has ever overcome — the Mavs know that they have a chance to push the two-time titleholders to the brink of defeat with a positive showing in front of the Dallas crowd. The Mavericks will also try to clean up some inconsistent play at home in the last two seasons, with Game 3 serving as the perfect opportunity to do so.

“For some reason we’ve always been great on the road the last couple of years, but we’ve let some games slip away at home, which was disappointing not only in the playoffs but also the regular season,” forward Dirk Nowitzki admitted. “So, we’ve got to go home and go for it.

“I think sometimes we’re a veteran team, and at home we kind of ease into games saying, ‘Hey, our crowd’s gonna carry us.’ And then we get down big, double digits most of the time, and we’ve gotta fight back and don’t have enough left in the fourth to win. So, we’ve gotta make sure we’re ready from the jump on Friday. The crowd is gonna be rocking for us, and we’ve gotta be energetic from the get-go, keep the defense up and move the ball. That’s how we won the first two games.”

But battling the likes of perennial All-Stars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, the Mavericks know that they will need far more than just a cheering crowd behind them. And although the Lakers will also be minus defensive specialist Ron Artest while he serves a one-game suspension following a blow to backup point guard J.J. Barea’s face at the end of Game 2, the Mavericks will still also need to continue to add offensive production around their leading scorer, Nowitzki.

In the Mavs’ 96-94 win in Game 1 on Monday night it was swingman Corey Brewer who provided a brief spark to help turn around a Dallas team that was down by as many as 16 in the third quarter. The Mavericks then turned to two more unsuspecting heroes in Game 2, with DeShawn Stevenson’s timely 3-point shooting and Barea’s late-game dribble penetration providing Nowitzki with plenty of assistance en route to a 93-81 victory.

And in the third showdown of the series Carlisle hopes the trend continues, knowing that his team will again need a timely contribution from its supporting cast in order to hand the Lakers a third loss.

“[Nowitzki's] our horse and we don’t have a pecking order of scorers. For us, we may need to have six or seven guys with five or more points to be on target with where we need to be,” Carlisle explained.

“DeShawn Stevenson started it off [in Game 2]. Again, it’s been a theme throughout the playoffs, throughout the regular season,” sixth man Jason Terry added. “Somebody is gonna step up for us. We don’t know who it is, and someone is gonna be the unsung hero. [Wednesday night] it was DeShawn and J.J. Barea, what he did at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter, and our bigs. So, it was a collective effort. We’re a team and that’s evident.”

Meanwhile, the Mavs also hope to continue to lock down Bryant and his team of talented scorers on the defensive end, bettering the 43 percent that L.A. shot in Game 1 by holding the Lakers to just 41 percent shooting — while hitting on just 42 percent of their shots at the other end — two nights later. And with a renewed defensive intensity, the Mavericks will take the court looking to build upon what they began in L.A.

“Defense is what’s going to win games this time of the year. Right now that’s been our focal point. We feel we’re going to get good looks, it’s just a matter of make or miss,” point guard Jason Kidd pointed out.

“That’s obviously the key,” Nowitzki added. “I don’t think we were particularly on fire [in Game 2], we shot only 42 percent. … We just couldn’t make a lot of shots. But defensively, we battled and tried to make it tough on Kobe and tried to keep a tight paint.”

The Mavericks will try to do it again this time with a sea of blue surrendering them, as the team returns home to a royal blue-out.

Note: Game 3 of the Mavericks’ second-round series will take place at the American Airlines Center on Friday night, airing nationally on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. CT. 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).

The Mavs-Lakers Game 3 this Friday night 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.

Be there early! Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Mavs players take the court at 8:15 p.m. and tip-off is at 8:30 p.m. Be decked out in MAVS ROYAL BLUE at Game 3 and all home playoff games.

Tickets for the first two home games of the Second Round of the 2011 Playoffs will are on sale now. Tickets are priced $19 and up for Round 2. Tickets will be available online at mavs.com, via phone (214-747-6287 or 1-800-4NBA-TIX), the American Airlines Center® North Box Office* and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Simon Mall in Garland and Shops at Willow Bend).

The first-round series between the two teams continues as follows:
Game 3 – Fri May 6 8:30 p.m. CT ESPN
Game 4 – Sun May 8 2:30 p.m. CT ABC
Game 5 * Tue May 10 TBD TNT
Game 6 * Thu May 12 TBD ESPN
Game 7 * Sun May 15 2:30 p.m. CT ABC