Still room to improve

Being in the series despite not having guys such as Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and Jerry Stackhouse playing up to their capabilities consistently gives Avery Johnson something to build on.

“We think if we can get everybody on the same page and playing good basketball, which we’re going to need to do against this No. 2 seed that’s awfully good, we feel there’s that next level for us to go to,” Johnson said. “We didn’t play a perfect game that last game. We did some nice things and we won it, but when the men saw the film, they still see there’s an inch or a yard where we can continue to improve.”

It’s not so much specific improvement.

“More of the same, but just better,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “I thought we had their guns under control pretty good and then we let Pargo come in and get 30. He had some wide-open shots. We lost his body some on some screening situations, so that just shows us how good they are, how deep they are.

“They can hurt you in a lot of ways. Just more of the same. Focus on the gameplan and just try to play Mavericks basketball and we should be all right.”