SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Chances are good you missed the freshest readings from Vlade Divac's crystal roundball, for a couple understandable reasons.

Reason No. 1: Vlade was smiling and kidding when he made his latest post-Game 1 proclamation.

Reason No. 2: Divac's Game 1 stat sheet was too good to focus on the bulletin board.

	Vlade Divac's Kings will try to deny Dirk Nowitzki's Mavericks tonight.

Bracing for a maelstrom of Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic and clanging cowbells, the Mavericks were impaled instead by ol' Vlade. He's 34 now, or so he says, and has always been known as a finesse man, but it was Divac indeed who established the interior tenor of superiority that set the Kings on their way to a 108-91 runaway in the opener.

Fact is, the Mavericks enter Monday night's Game 2 at Fortress Arco knowing they did considerably better with the cowbells than they handled Divac. Protests to lead referee Bennett Salvatore and NBA security officials near the bench led to those officials informing Kings fans seated behind the Mavericks' coaches that they would have to put away their noisemakers during timeouts. Divac, meanwhile, rumbled inside no matter whom Dallas sent at him, mostly abusing Raef LaFrentz for 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Expect the Kings to send the ball back Vlade's way until the Mavericks do something about it. Single coverage on Divac got shredded.

"They don't have anyone who can stop the guy," said Sacramento's Bobby Jackson. "Look at their lineup. They're thin. We're not big, but we're bigger than their big men. We've got to punish them inside. If we don't, we're playing their game."

Divac promised himself going in that he wouldn't say anything near that inflammatory, after what happened in the last round. He proclaimed the Utah Jazz "done" after a close Game 1, announcing to the world that the Kings had survived Stockton-to-Malone's best shot. He promptly wound up looking like so many gullible sports scribes over the years, when the written-off geezers won Game 2 in Sactown and kept the series close thereafter.

For this series, a highly anticipated World Bowl shootout, Divac arrived with a more serious focus. He was determined to establish himself down low, knowing that inside scoring is the area where Sacramento has its most clear advantage in a matchup of like-minded run-and-gunners. One game in, Divac has already impressed some longtime Vlade watchers on the other side.

"He's like John Stockton for a post guy," said Avery Johnson, the Mavericks' seen-it-all guard who was promoted to assistant coach for the playoffs after sustaining a late-season leg injury.

"Vlade might not be the most athletic player, but he's very crafty. It's just new territory for Raef. You're trying to catch up in an area where it's hard to, and that's experience. He has to play better one-on-one defense … but he's playing a man. Vlade Divac is a man. He's a man's man."

Said Nick Van Exel, Divac's former Laker teammate: "Vlade really handled the inside. If he keeps getting off like that, we're going to be in trouble."

It also didn't hurt that Divac had some help, from multiple sources. Stojakovic likewise looked more aggressive than usual, totaling 26 points and 10 rebounds with the benefit of only one 3-pointer in seven tries. Webber fouled out with 4:09 to go, but still managed to add 20 points and 10 boards. Combined with Divac's big on-court statement, featuring nine rebounds before LaFrentz had any, Sacramento had a 64-44 edge in points in the paint.

Most pleasing of all to the hosts, though, had to be the defense, in a series where no one was expected to play any. Offense, of course, is the Kings' best D, but they did keep undeniably close tabs on Dirk Nowitzki around the 3-point line, limiting Nowitzki to two attempts from deep that both missed. Sacramento probably wouldn't have gotten away with the gamble had Nowitzki converted more of the good, shorter looks he had, but the Mavericks didn't shoot 38.9 percent from the field -- and 6-for-23 on 3s -- by themselves.

	Bigger worries for Dallas now are LaFrentz's ongoing struggles to adapt to the playoffs … and the realization that Sacramento can easily play better as well … and, suddenly, stopping Vlade.

"They played some pretty good defense," Van Exel said.

"You're going to see some exciting basketball," Kings coach Rick Adelman added, "but it's going to come down to which team defends the other the best."

Dallas nonetheless believes that things can't get much worse for them. The Mavericks even missed their free throws in Game 1, seven of their 22 freebies, after shooting 88 percent from the line in the Minnesota series.

They also saw Eduardo Najera, Dallas' primary Webber defender, suffer a broken right thumb in warmups when an errant pass bashed his hand as he went in for a layup.

The Mavericks feel as though they rushed things Saturday, much more than they normally do, even though the willingness to hoist shots early in the clock proved a boost in sweeping the Wolves. Coach Don Nelson still wants his guys hoisting, but only if the early shots are good ones. Expect the Mavericks to follow the Kings' example in Game 2 and pursue some good ball movement to counter Sacramento's (wise) obsession with the scorching Nowitzki and its hounding of Steve Nash.

"The media has billed this as a running game, an up-and-down game," Dallas' Michael Finley said. "And we tried our hardest to follow along."

Sharpness shouldn't be a problem any more, either, after more than one Maverick conceded that a week of team golf outings and Letterman appearances might not have been the best preparation for a visit to the league's loudest building. Bigger worries for Dallas now are LaFrentz's ongoing struggles to adapt to the playoffs … and the realization that Sacramento can easily play better as well … and, suddenly, stopping Vlade.

Stojakovic, asked if his countryman/big brother can really repeat his Game 1 dominance, cracked a big smile and said: "I think you need to ask him."

OK, then. How about that new prediction, Vlade?

"We're done," Divac quipped, grinning broadly himself. "I don't think we can play any better."

See. Told you he was kidding.

Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.