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For the third straight contest the Dallas Mavericks dominated the Los Angeles Lakers in crunch time, and now, down 3-0, L.A. must make history in order to stay alive.

The Lakers have likely seen their dreams of a third straight NBA Title crushed under the stampede of a renewed toughness from the Mavericks. Over the course of the second round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs, Dallas has displayed a tendency to play best with the game on the line; and now L.A. finds themselves down 3-0 in a series for the first time under head coach Phil Jackson.

"Well we’re disappointed," said Jackson. "We felt like Games 1 and 3 we controlled the pace of the game, but just couldn’t finish the game. They’re better at finishing the games out than we were, so that’s a big disappointment to us. But we still believe we’re going to win the next game, and we’ll go from there…

"They deserved to win and we didn’t."

Los Angeles led by eight points with under seven minutes to play in regulation seven with 5:05 to play, but failed to hold off the hard-charging Mavericks’ late. Lakers’ center Andrew Bynum, who broke out of his series slump in scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, exhibited frustration for his team blowing it yet again in the fourth quarter.

"It’s tough man," said Bynum. "We played hard and we just gave it away again at the end; up seven with eight minutes  to go."

The Mavericks outscored the Lakers 32-20 in the final frame, and Dallas has outscored L.A. by at least six points in the final quarter of each of the first three games of the series.

"Sometimes it’s just hard for me to understand how we find ourselves in a game like that and we don’t know how to use each other’s strengths," a visibly shaken Lamar Odom said after the game. "We’ve been through it so many times, but we’re so stubborn with each other, and it caught up to us…

"It’s tough… we have a decision to make whether it’s our time, or somebody else’s time."

Despite the fact that all 98 teams that have ever been down 3-0 in a best of seven series have failed to make a comeback, Dallas believes finishing the series off Sunday afternoon is the best outcome against a gritty, two-time Champion Lakers’ team.

"It’s a very important game," said Peja Stojakovic, who knocked down three 3′s in the decisive fourth quarter of Game Three. "You can’t put too much pressure on yourself to close the series, but we’ve got to bring everything we’ve got. We’ve got to play our best basketball because the Lakers aren’t going to go away like that. They’re too skilled, too experienced and they’ve been in these types of situations before."

Mavericks’ power forward Dirk Nowitzki, who led all scorers with 32 points in Game Three, took it a step further;  insisting Dallas must not let it’s guard down in Game Four.

"We’ve just got to go for it," said Nowitzki. "We’re not good enough to coast or relax or anything.  We’ve got to go for it on Sunday with the same hype from the crowd…

"We’re playing against the best, the two-time defending champs, and if you want to beat the best you have to bring your best."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Back in the 2002-2003 season, Dallas took a commanding 3-0 lead against the Portland Trail Blazers, then seemingly kicked up their collective feet and waited to be placed into the second round of the playoffs. The Blazers had other plans, winning three straight contests by an average of 15 points per.

Dallas was able to salvage that series with a Game Seven win, but this team believes they are different from any past Mavs’ squads that may have exhibited some of those mental lapses that led to embarrassing postseason collapses. One of the many new faces on the Mavericks that looks to buck that trend, Tyson Chandler, laid it out plain and simple following Game Three:

"Whenever you have the opportunity to close a series out, it’s extremely important," said Chandler. "We’ve got that opportunity and we’ve got to do it."

Common sense says the two-time defending champions won’t fall easily — Dallas knows as much — but history says they will lose this series. Now it’s just a matter of how quickly the Mavericks can put Kobe Bryant and the Lakers away.

Game Four is scheduled for Sunday  at 3:30 p.m. ET, and can be seen nationally on ABC.

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