Losing both road games in Denver Nuggets, the Dallas Mavericks have put themselves in a difficult situation for game three on their home court. Another loss would basically mean that they would have to win four games in a row to advance, thus the Mavs are expected to give all they got in game three on Saturday at 10 p.m. GMT to avoid this worst case scenario.

Much like in game one, the Mavericks were able hang around throughout the first three quarters keeping the margin to less than two possessions. However, the fourth quarter looked like a repetition of the nightmare Rick Carlisle's team experienced in the last twelve minutes of game one. Outscoring Dallas 31-22, the Denver Nuggets were able to defend their home court for the fifth consecutive time in the post-season and extended their Western Conference semi-final lead to 2-0.

Carmelo Anthony had 25 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds while J.R. Smith finished the game with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Maverick Dirk Nowitzki showed another strong performance, scoring 35 points, grabbing 9 rebounds and adding 4 assists. Moreover, Jason Terry had 21 points off the bench but there was very little support for Dallas' two star players. Josh Howard who was the projected x-factor for the series had to sit on the bench after playing a few minutes in the first quarter and hurting his banged up ankle again.

If Dallas wants to be successful in game three significant improvements will be necessary. Most importantly, the Mavericks have to do a better job of keeping the Nuggets out of the lane and off the free-throw line. Averaging over 30 free-throws a game, Denver repeatedly hurt Dallas' defense by driving to the basket on every other possession. Although Dallas complained about having problems dealing with the altitude in Denver it remains to be seen whether it really was a factor in Dallas losing the opening games.

You can watch this NBA Western Conference semi-final game right here on www.watchlivenba.com, the home of live NBA streaming.