DALLAS -- On the first Saturday in May, the thoroughbreds were off and running. It was Game 1 of the life-in-the-fast-lane Western Conference semifinal between the two highest-scoring teams in the league, a best-of-seven series that should be long on possibilities and short on chances to catch your breath, and the Kings won.

On Tuesday, hearts were breaking in Sacramento and necks were breaking everywhere from watching the frenetic pace, and Steve Nash scored 30 points to spark the Mavericks' victory that tied the series. Even Steven.

	Chris Webber doesn't bother setting up in the post because he doesn't get any calls.

And then, on Thursday, the matchup shifted to Dallas. But a large portion of the attention didn't, as in about 28½ feet large and $122.7 million large and all those different scenarios. The ones looming large.

There's Raef LaFrentz, Shawn Bradley, Wang Zhizhi and Evan Eschmeyer, and there's Chris Webber, and here's the point. For all the storylines about a showdown of autobahn teams, the difference could ultimately come down to who brings the muscle, not the muscle car. Whoever controls the trenches controls the direction of the series, because you can't run, as both would like, if you don't own the line of scrimmage.

So it is that the Kings' power forward who is more comfortable on the perimeter, or at least is setting up shop where he feels he can be given some respect, and the Mavericks' two credentialed shot-blockers, who are anything but imposing, will have a major say about who wins a series built on speed. Sacramento knows it needs to pull an inside job to capitalize on an obvious advantage over an opponent that has been rapped all along for a lack of interior defense. Dallas knows it needs to find answers.

And yet neither has happened with any consistency. The Mavericks were porous inside in the opener, though better in Game 2. Webber's second half in Game 1 was a key to the Kings' victory, but he has been unable to make Dallas pay for the shortcoming on defense.

"I won't say I have had great success," Webber admitted. "But I have been trying to take advantage of that."

No one should have expected differently, though. The cries from fans that Webber needs to be more of a post presence should have died long ago from old age. If that failed, then from reality.

That's not his game. He's not going to change this late into his career, and especially since the past two seasons have been his best ever. Chris Webber is physical enough to average double-digit rebounding years, a versatile offensive weapon who can score from the post and the perimeter, a good defender with the potential to become even better and a very good passer for a big man. But he is not in the mold of the prototypical, pound-it-inside power forward so many still expect him to fit.

He is among the elite at his position, a second-team, All-NBA pick who would have had a legitimate campaign for MVP recognition if not for losing 34 percent of the season to injury and illness. To keep wondering why he won't go into the post, though, is to not deal in reality. It's not Webber's game, even as he accepts the criticism that it should happen more.

"I believe there is probably some truth in that," he said. "But I feel I don't get the respect I deserve in the post from referees. I feel like two out of three shots will be a waste if I get fouled. I feel like they won't call fouls. The (last-minute) shot in Utah in Game 4. People know why Utah puts (Jarron) Collins in there. He even told me why they put him in there: to foul, to hold and to grab. If that was Karl Malone that had gotten stripped, it would have been a foul. So that's frustrating to me, very frustrating to me, very frustrating to me, in the post. ... And I've got to try and win that (mind) game.

	“	When I hear people say it, and I really don't think about what people say, I'd say there was some truth to it and keep going. But I think it's ultimately going to come down to me, going back into the post, and posting up. ”
		— Chris Webber

"If I'm a nine-year vet and they see that foul and I don't get that call, there is nothing else I can do. I'm not going to flop and make it obvious that is a foul. I've done that. I study my opponents and I see what they do to get that same call on me. It's all about benefit of the doubt. That's not a complaint or an argument. I've got to work around that. That's just a fact of life and you've got to go forward. At least this year, it goes year by year. I wasn't getting that. Maybe because I wasn't aggressive enough. It probably had something to do with me. So when I hear people say it, and I really don't think about what people say, I'd say there was some truth to it and keep going. But I think it's ultimately going to come down to me, going back into the post, and posting up. I can't say that refs deterred me from going in there."

There was a prominent inside presence in the Kings' victory, but it was Vlade Divac with 18 points and 16 rebounds. That came as 6-foot-11 LaFrentz got three personals in the first 15 minutes and played 25 minutes total, 7-6 Bradley made only a cameo, 6-11 Eschmeyer got one minute and Divac went through 7-1 Wang Zhizhi as if he were Wang Zhizhi or something. Mavericks coach Don Nelson gave his big men a "D" on defense and conceded that "I think that's the key element in most playoff series -- the inside game," but he stopped from making a change for Game 2. LaFrentz started, Bradley got four minutes for the second game in a row, Wang played one and Eschmeyer didn't get off the bench -- and the Dallas win came because Nash and Nick Van Exel made small ball a strong move.

Nelson has Bradley and Eschmeyer available for the interior duty, except that there's a reason both would be very, very rested if called upon. Nellie could also send in Wang for more than the 11 minutes of the opener, or at least he could if Divac would stop distracting everyone on the Dallas bench by trying to send Wang in himself. Bradley could be the "X" factor if he weren't so busy being the "Why?" factor. He went from getting a seven-year, $30.5 million contract to re-sign in Dallas -- an understandable investment since he had just finished second in the league in blocks and could have been a major factor for a team already overflowing with scorers -- to being bothered by a series of knee injuries or ultimately ending up in Nelson's giraffe house. There was even some doubt near the end of the season whether he would make the playoff roster, before it was decided that he still had the potential to deliver a key stretch at any given time to turn a game and, therefore, a series.

That time didn't come in the first round. Bradley played seven minutes in one game and three in another vs. the Timberwolves. That time hasn't come in the second round.

"I just go in and try to do what I need to do," he said. "It may or may not be tough. It's just the way it is. I've got to do it."

Eschmeyer arrived with a six-year free-agent deal worth $19.16 million to provide some inside muscle, then averaged 9.6 minutes in the regular season, 3.5 minutes in two appearances in the first round and one minute Saturday. Meanwhile, Wang is there for his offense from the perimeter; Adrian Griffin, who would spend a lot of time on the small forwards and add frontcourt depth, missed the opener because of back spasms before playing a rusty five minutes Monday; and Eduardo Najera has a broken thumb that has already greatly reduced his playing time as one of the primary Webber defenders.

Which brings them all to Game 3 -- the power forward under pressure to live up to his massive contract and become a player he isn't, and the team that needs to show it can play bulked up. Hey, we just said it would be exciting. No one ever said it would be easy.

Scott Howard-Cooper, who covers the NBA for the Sacramento Bee, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.