"Do we look panicked?" Nelson asked.

Uh, not particularly. Not even with Monday's Game 2 at Arco Arena fast approaching. The reason, perhaps, is simple. The Mavericks figure their Game 1 loss to Sacramento can't be repeated.

Consider that the Mavericks shot a playoff-worst 39 percent and another playoff-low 26 percent from 3-point range. Their accuracy was so far off that they made only 68 percent of their free throws ? fresh off setting an NBA record by hitting 87.7 percent in the first round.

Both the most encouraging news and the biggest concern for the Mavericks is that they didn't play their game Saturday against Sacramento. They didn't attack the basket, didn't pass the ball and didn't find the good shots they usually sink with consistency. They didn't even hit 100 points, which has happened only 25 other times this season.

"The media has billed this as a running game, an up-and-down game," Finley said, "and we tried our hardest to follow along."