Let me do it for him.

The Mavs need to knock one of the Nuggets on his butt during the first quarter of Game 2.

Carmelo Anthony would be a fine victim. So would Chauncey Billups. Or if they're really feeling bold, they could send Kenyon Martin crashing to the ground.It really doesn't matter as long as the goal is achieved and the desired effect gets accomplished.

This is not a plea for dirty Basketball. Quite the contrary.

Playoff Basketball has always been about hard, legitimate fouls in a quest to protect the basket.

Besides, we all know the Mavs have a league-wide reputation for being soft. If they're too aggressive, the refs and overzealous league officials will overreact and someone will get suspended for Game 3.

Bottom line: There should be no uncontested drives down the middle of the lane that result in thunderous dunks.

Free throws are a better option. Every single time.

"I think it's safe to say they've really been punking teams,'' Antoine Wright said of the Nuggets . "The challenge for us is going to be a physical team."They sent a message on their first hard foul on Dirk (Nowitzki). I don't remember our guys hitting any of their guys the rest of the game. I'm not condoning us to turn it into a fight, but there definitely has to be a level of respect that they have to have for us.''

See, the Nuggets make no apologies for being front-running bullies.

They prance. They preen. They pose. The play with the arrogance of a team that's seeded second in the Western Conference.

They know they're good and don't mind telling or showing you. They stick their collective finger in your face and dare you to knock it away.

Stand up to the Nuggets by matching their physical play and there's a chance they will implode.

The signs were evident during the first three quarters of Game 1 before Denver turned the game into a blowout.

You saw Carmelo and J.R. Smith and Anthony Carter whining about every single foul whether even though they kept whacking Dirk upside the head. You saw them nearly lose control.

We all did.

But it didn't happen. Denver regained its focus, turned up its defensive intensity and blew out the Mavs in the fourth quarter.

Give the Nuggets too much leeway and they will blow out the Mavs again, and beat them the same way they callously dispatched New Orleans in five games.

"It's not all about hard fouls," said Carter, "It's about good team Basketball."

The Nuggets had 17 layups and five dunks.

Not once did a member of the Nuggets go sprawling on the floor the way Dirk did in the first quarter, resulting in a technical foul and a $25,000 fine against Martin.

That's completely unacceptable.

"I don't think we have any guys who are going to shy away from it if they know that's going to help us win the game," Wright said. "It's all about taking that challenge and seeing if we have enough heart to follow through."

No one is saying the Mavs need to become the Bad Boys of the new millennium.

They couldn't if they wanted. It's not part of this team's collective personality.

This remains a finesse team like it has been throughout their impressive nine-year streak of winning at least 50 games.

But is it too much to ask the Mavs to go outside their comfort zone a few times in Game 2?

The odds of beating Denver four out of five times, including twice in Denver where they will have won 15 straight, are longer than the odds Mine That Bird faced in the Kentucky Derby.

To win this series, the Mavs must make a stand.

Now.

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