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Nuggets-Mavericks Preview

May 9, 2009 - 1:06 AM By JAIME ARON AP Sports Writer

Denver At Dallas, Game Three, 5:00 p.m. EDT

DALLAS (AP) -- In their romp through the playoffs thus far, the Denver Nuggets have made only one mistake: blowing Game 3 of their first-round series.

Up 2-0 on the Hornets, and playing in New Orleans, the Nuggets jumped way ahead in the opening minutes - then wound up losing. They bounced back in a big way the next game and haven't lost since.

On Saturday, Denver gets another Game 3 on the road, again while up 2-0. This time it's against the Dallas Mavericks.

Have the Nuggets learned their lesson? Do they now understand the difference between a playoff road game and a regular-season road game?

Denver coach George Karl is eager to find out.

"Game 3 always has a sort of home-court intensity that big-time pros know how to take advantage of, and I think Dallas is made up of big-time pros," Karl said. "They're going to have a home-court energy that's going to be more than New Orleans was. It's going to be hotter. It's going to be a hot building where we're going to have to keep 48 minutes of composure and focus and make sure we stay on track and on point to how to win the game."

The Nuggets haven't had many problem with the Mavericks so far, using their size and strength to bully their way to the basket seemingly at will. Both games have featured stretches when everything came easy for Denver and nothing was easy for Dallas.

Yet the Mavericks haven't been total bystanders. In both games, they led early and got close with about a quarter left. The difference has been Denver pulling away and Dallas unable to stop it.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle and staff have had three days to come up with some new strategies and some backups in case those don't work. There's also been time for Josh Howard to rest his ailing ankles. And there's the twin comforts of being home (where Dallas is 17-1 since mid-February) and being out of Denver's high altitude.

"Coming home is something that can help you, but it doesn't guarantee anything," Carlisle said Friday. "Our whole game's got to get better. There are a lot of things we can do in the first three quarters that will help us be in better shape going into the fourth."

Dirk Nowitzki is always Dallas' main man, but perhaps especially so Saturday. He's spent the days since Game 2 dealing with the arrest of a woman who was living at his house and the fallout from it, including constant media attention. Having a game to play should be a great release, and fans are likely to show him plenty of support.

"Watching him prepare the last two days, he looks like he's focused, ready to go," guard Jason Terry said.

In going 6-1 this postseason, Denver has won by margins of 12 points to 58. No nail-biters - well, except for that 97-95 loss to New Orleans in Game 3.

"It's easy while you're winning and you're in front," Terry said. "We'll see what happens if we put a little pressure on them, come out and handle our business in Game 3 and see what happens in the next one after that."

Then again, the Nuggets are 6-0 against the Mavericks this season. They have won twice in Dallas, including that lone home loss by the Mavs the last three months, a fact Denver's Chauncey Billups and Kenyon Martin insisted Friday they didn't know.

"We're just trying to be better than we were in Game 2," Martin said. "It's going to be rowdy in here. We played here late in the year and it was loud. I can only imagine what it's going to be like now. There's a lot more at stake, so we've just got to stay together knowing we're in enemy territory."

Billups said he expects a more conservative approach, as in fewer risk-reward plays because part of the risk is giving up easy baskets that would fire up the crowd.

"A 9-0, 9-2 run makes the visiting team feel like it's a lot worse when you've got good fans," Billups said. "So we just got to control the tempo and not take as many chances offensively."

Carmelo Anthony said the lessons from Game 3 against New Orleans should help, too.

"I just think the intensity and the energy that we started off that game with, and then we kind of let up, kind of got relaxed, kind of got complacent," he said. "I think we've learned from that mistake."