As good as the Pepsi Center was to Denver, the Mavericks need American Airlines Center to be every bit as good to them, or they're in for a short stay in the Western Conference semis.

"We're counting on that to help us through these next two games," Kidd said. "They protected home, and we were unfortunate not to get one. Now we have to do the same thing and bring it back [to Denver] for Game 5."

What the Mavericks know in their hearts is that the series won't really start until Game 5 if they can hold serve.

"Our fans really help us," said James Singleton. "They're a momentum team at home. We're a momentum team at home. When we go back to Dallas we have to show them what it's really like.

"It's going to be a tough series. It's going to go down to all seven."

Lineup changes: Part of it was by necessity with Josh Howard's injury, but Rick Carlisle fiddled with the lineup in Game 2 and may do so again, he said.

Antoine Wright started at shooting guard for J.J. Barea and in the third quarter, Jason Terry started for Howard, who sat out the final three quarters with a sprained right ankle.

The latest conjecture has focused on Ryan Hollins getting more playing time in place of Erick Dampier. That may or may not happen, but it is highly unlikely Hollins would start. Dampier has started every game he's played this season.

"Damp played well to start the third quarter," Carlisle said. "We kept him in because he was playing well and we were making strides on the score. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Damp. He's one of the guys that has been the key to our success this year."

That said, Carlisle added that he's "not shy about making a lineup change."

Briefly: Much has been said about the Mavericks' bench getting hammered in the series so far, but their reserves have outscored Denver's backups, 81-76, through two games. ... In Game 2, the starters scored 53 for the Mavericks , the bench 52. ... Terry's 21 points in Game 2 marked the first time in seven games he's cracked 20 points in seven playoff games. He had 20 or more 33 times in the regular season.

LATE TUESDAY

Nuggets 117, Mavericks 105

Mavericks M FG

M-A 3-pt

M-A FT

M-A Tot.

Pts. Reb.

O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea.

Avg. High

Game

Howard 6:21 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 0-1 2 2 0 1 0 15.6 28

Nowitzki 39:49 11-20 1-2 12-13 35 1-9 4 2 0 3 0 22.7 35

Dampier 19:28 2-4 0-0 0-1 4 2-4 0 5 0 1 0 7.0 11

Kidd 37:38 1-6 0-0 1-2 4 0-6 7 3 2 2 0 9.9 17

Wright 30:13 3-5 0-0 3-4 10 1-3 1 4 1 0 1 5.6 10

Terry 38:41 7-18 3-8 4-6 21 2-3 6 1 0 2 0 14.7 19

Singleton 13:41 2-5 0-0 0-0 5 0-2 0 2 0 0 0 2.0 5

Barea 19:47 2-5 0-0 1-2 5 1-3 3 1 0 1 0 8.4 13

Hollins 14:07 4-4 0-0 0-0 8 1-4 0 5 0 0 0 2.9 8

Bass 16:21 4-6 0-0 0-0 8 1-2 0 3 0 0 0 7.1 14

Carroll 1:57 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0.7 0

Green 1:57 1-2 1-2 2-2 5 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 2.8 5

Totals 240:00 37-78 8-23 23-30 105 9-37 23 28 4 11 1 97.4 106

Nuggets M FG

M-A 3-pt

M-A FT

M-A Tot.

Pts. Reb.

O-T Ast. F Stl TO Blk Sea.

Avg. High

Game

Anthony 42:11 8-21 1-8 8-9 25 1-5 5 4 1 1 1 24.0 34

Martin 28:40 4-7 0-0 4-5 12 1-7 4 4 1 3 0 10.0 15

Nene 34:20 8-12 0-0 9-13 25 3-8 0 2 0 1 1 13.4 25

Billups 38:39 5-12 4-9 4-4 18 0-3 8 1 3 2 0 19.6 36

Jones 15:04 0-3 0-0 0-2 0 0-3 1 2 1 1 1 7.1 12

Andersen 25:18 4-5 0-0 0-0 8 5-9 2 4 1 1 0 8.1 11

Smith 24:48 6-10 3-7 6-7 21 0-2 3 2 2 0 0 16.6 21

Kleiza 6:10 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 7.3 14

Carter 20:12 2-4 0-0 0-0 4 2-4 4 1 0 0 0 2.7 12

Petro 1:33 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 4

Hart 1:33 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 1 0 0 0 0 0.3 2

Balkman 1:33 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 0

Totals 240:01 39-78 8-28 31-40 117 12-42 28 20 9 9 3 109.7 121

1 2 3 4 OT F 2FG% 3FG% TFG% FT%

DALLAS 22 33 28 22 - 105 .527 .348 .474 .767

DENVER 30 28 28 31 - 117 .620 .286 .500 .775

Halftime: Nuggets, 58-55. Third quarter: Nuggets, 86-83. Nuggets' largest lead: 19. Mavericks' largest lead: 6. Lead changes: 3. Team turnovers: . Attendance: . Time: . Technical fouls: Dallas, Hollins, 3:36, second; Denver, Martin, 3:36 second; Flagrant fouls: None. Officials: Monty McCutchen, Mike Callahan, Ed Malloy.