Two big games needed for Mavs' Big Three

[MavsFanFinley]

Two big games needed for Mavs' Big Three
Mavs will look to Nash, Finley, Nowitzki to get them back in it at home

By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Mavericks point guard Steve Nash shot 32.4 percent from the field in the first two games of the playoffs, which would have looked awful if not for the performance of teammate Michael Finley.

Finley's 32.0 percent marksmanship was compounded because he couldn't get off a shot with a chance to be a hero Tuesday.

Nash and Finley are two of the Mavericks' Big Three. The third member, Dirk Nowitzki, has been solid, for the most part. But the Mavericks are down, 2-0, to Sacramento and face the unpalatable task of needing four wins in five games to survive the Kings.

Still, if anybody is questioning the trio's future – whether it be in Game 3 on Saturday night at American Airlines Center or beyond – Don Nelson has two words for you: You're wrong.

"I'll never forget at Golden State when I traded Mitch Richmond for Billy Owens," the Mavericks coach said Thursday. "I was listening to my basketball people and they convinced me that it was the thing to do. They said we needed to get bigger. So we traded a proven player for a question, even though [Owens] was bigger.

"It was the biggest mistake I ever made. We got bigger. But we weren't [as good]."

By acquiring Owens, Nelson broke up the threesome of Richmond, Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway. The Warriors spent the next decade or so trying to recover.

"I will never do that again," Nelson said. "When you have three great players, you build around them. You don't get rid of them. That's a dumb philosophy."

The Big Three is not delivering the most vital statistic – wins. Yet they give the team its best chance of getting back into the series.

Not that the pressure isn't on them. Nash and Finley – not to mention Nelson – know the same external stress was there last season when the team went to Game 7s with Portland and Sacramento. The Mavericks won both series.

"I can't control what happened yesterday," said Finley, who missed 17 of 25 shots in Games 1 and 2 in Sacramento. "I can't really control what's going to happen tomorrow. My mind-set is controlling what I can do today, [to] play in the now."

The Mavericks had an hour-long practice devoted mostly to Finley on Thursday. The coaches tried to get his shot fixed with repetition. Nash and Nowitzki put in extended shooting practice in a late-night session Wednesday after returning from Sacramento.

That work ethic is another reason Nelson said he'd be inclined to keep the three players together.

"We're in new territory, uncharted territory," Nash said. "This is a new team. It's one thing to say that you, Dirk and Mike have been here before. We have, but not with the next group of guys. So if they don't understand what's transpired before, it's irrelevant."

Nash said he likes the Mavericks' situation and the group of core players. And Nelson is in agreement that nothing has been decided, neither in this series nor for the future of the franchise.

"We can still win the series ... that's the bottom line," Nelson said. "There are no automatics. That's for sure. But we've been very good at home. We have to assume we're going to play better at home. We need both games.

"Whether we won a game on their court or not, it doesn't matter. It's going to be a great series."