SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Rick Adelman was looking for a major impact from his two post players entering Game 1 Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks.

Chris Webber and Vlade Divac made a decisive statement.

The Kings' main inside guys were critical components of the surprisingly easy 108-91 victory while delivering a definite message to the Mavericks, who will need a better solution for the pair in Monday's Game 2 meeting.

Divac got involved right away with nine first-quarter rebounds. He finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Webber recovered from a poor first half, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the third quarter and also getting 10 rebounds and blocking three shots.

"We wanted those two guys to make a statement inside and make them guard us," Adelman said.

Webber fouled out in only 31 minutes, and Divac finished with five fouls, but the Mavericks could not counter with an inside game of their own. Sacramento outscored Dallas 64-44 in the paint.

Dallas center Raef LaFrentz was plagued with foul trouble. He missed six of his seven shots and had more fouls than points (5 to 3). Inexperienced backup Wang Zhizhi was no match for the veteran Divac, who helped hold the Chinese star without a rebound.

"When Vlade gets the ball down on the block, he's very crafty, and he was being aggressive tonight," LaFrentz said. "Webber goes at his own pace, and when he has it going, he's tough."

Ahead 55-50 at the half, the Kings were ignited by Webber and Divac in the third quarter. Webber started the period with a dunk and later hit several medium-range jumpers as the Kings' lead grew to 10 points. LaFrentz was called for his fourth foul early, bringing Zhizhi off the bench for help.

Some help. Webber and Divac had five points in a 9-0 run as the Kings built the lead to 78-65. The two combined for 19 points in the third quarter when the Kings outscored Dallas 27-24, taking an eight-point lead in the final period.

"Vlade did a great job. They didn't have an answer for either him or Chris," Peja Stojakovic said. "We need to keep taking advantage of that."

Dallas plays more of a perimeter game than Sacramento and does not have a big man with great post-up skills. Shooting from the perimeter didn't work this time for the Mavericks, who missed 17 of 23 3-point attempts and shot 39 percent overall, hardly resembling the team that swept Minnesota and averaged 116 points.

"We're not just a lot of offensive players trying to score enough points to win," Webber said. "We pay attention to defense as well."

Neither Webber nor Divac were particularly effective in the Utah series, which Sacramento won in four games. Although Webber averaged 20.8 points, he shot 42 percent and had 17 turnovers.

Divac was invisible at times, scoring just 9.3 points and committing 20 fouls against the more physical Jazz. He wanted to set the tone early against the Mavericks.

"I was ready. I tried to be more aggressive," he said. "I wanted to be more of a factor for this team."

Clearly, the Mavericks need to find an answer for Game 2.

"Interior-wise, our defense is going to be important next game," Michael Finley said. "They have two quality inside guys in Vlade and Chris. We need to make it tougher on them."