no good reason to change, the Kings went away from what worked on offense so well in the opening game of this second round playoff series. The dominant low-post scoring game disappeared, replaced by a hailstorm of bad perimeter shots that led to a 110-102 loss to the Mavericks at Arco Arena.

"Last game, we maintained pretty much what we wanted to do," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "They controlled this game."

Leading 40-27 early in the second quarter, the Kings turned into jump-shooting fools. They shot only 36.5 percent for 63 tries during the final three quarters. That included a 4-for-18 performance on three-pointers.
The explanations were thin.

Point guard Mike Bibby, who made only two of his final 13 tries, said something about needing to watch tape. Forward Peja Stojakovic, whose inconsistent performances in the playoffs continued, shrugged his shoulders.