With 7:50 left in the first quarter, the Arco Arena crowd cheered heartily when Mavericks forward Eduardo Najera left the game after getting into a couple of scraps.

For as much trouble as Najera was getting into on the court, he wasn't nearly as much of a pain to the Kings as the man who replaced him in the lineup.

That was Nick Van Exel, who sharpened a dull Mavs offense with 40 points in a 141-137 double-overtime victory in Game 3. He also provided a couple of key defensive plays in the final pulse-pounding moments of regulation.

The Kings' crowd should have known better. Van Exel was the only Maverick to show any moxie in the Kings' Game 1 rout. Van Exel scored 20 points and had five assists off the bench in a 124-113 loss.