After being taken to task 93-81 in Game Two in front of their home fans Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves  in the unenviable position of being down 2-0 as the series heads to Dallas tonight. The back-to-back NBA Champions haven’t lost the first two games to start a series since the NBA Finals in 2008 — the last year this team failed to win it all.

The 2-0 deficit is even more alarming when you consider this is just the first time in the Phil Jackson-era that the Lakers have lost the first two games of a playoff series at home. Despite finding his team in a hole to start the second round, the head coach for the Lakers continues to keep an even keel as the series moves to Dallas.

"Well obviously down 2-0 you’ve got to be worried about staying in this series and making a run," Jackson said following Game Two. "Coming down and getting one game and starting with the first game and going from there, rhat’s what you do."

The Dallas Mavericks have been the more energetic and aggressive team through two games, and the Lakers’ coach couldn’t help but agree after his team was throttled in Game Two.

"Energize-wise, it looked like Dallas had more energy out there on the floor than we did," Jackson said Wednesday night, "and that’s concerning."

Los Angeles had the opportunity to go for the kill after getting up by 16 points in the third quarter of game one before blowing the double digit lead in the fourth quarter. Even though it’s the Lakers that now find themselves on the other end of the spectrum with Dallas honing in for the kill in trying to take an insurmountable 3-0 series lead tonight, Kobe Bryant insists that L.A. doesn’t need to play with more desperation, just smarter.

"I think when you play desperate, you don’t play your best basketball," a concise Bryant said after the Lakers 93-81 loss in Game Two. "What we need to do is relax, we need to focus in on what we’re doing wrong and the mistakes that we’re making — and we have plenty to review — and lock in on that. [We need to] go into Game Three minimizing those mistakes, playing calm basketball but with a relentless energy. I think if we do that we’ll be fine."

While the Mavericks undeniably now have the upper hand as they head to Big D with an opportunity to close out the series on their home floor, Bryant thinks a change of scenery might do the Lakers some good as they try to turn the tide in Dallas.

"We’re not very good here at home over the last few games so going to Dallas might do us some damn good," Bryant said. …"We’ve got to win one game. Everybody’s trippin’… You win the next game and then you move on to the next one. It’s as simple as that."

As both sides know, this Lakers’ team (that has won five of the last  11 championships overall with Bryant and Jackson leading the way) isn’t simply going to acquiesce to a hard-charging Mavericks’ squad. Bryant and the Lakers will respond with their best shot tonight in Game Three; it’s time to see if the Mavericks are up to the task of taking down the reigning NBA Champs.

Perhaps Mavericks’ power forward Dirk Nowitzki — who has clearly been the best player on the floor over the first two games of this series — said it best leading into Game Three:

"This series is far from over," Nowitzki said. "I’ve been around a long time. I’ve been up 2-0 before and ended up losing the series. I’ve been down 2-0, where I lost both home games against Houston a couple years ago, then came back and won in game seven. We’ve seen a lot of things happen in this league so we’ve got to stay focused, stay together and let our home crowd [carry] us on Friday and hopefully we’ll get a great win."

L.A. will have to go at it in Game Three without starting small forward Ron Artest, who unleashed some frustration in the closing seconds of Game Two in the form of a clothes-line on  J.J. Barea. Jackson has been unwilling to name a starter, but most believe it will be Luke Walton moving into the starting slot so that the Lakers don’t have to tinker with their rotations. However, after having lost the first two games, maybe it’s time for a change and Lamar Odom will move from sixth man to starter as the Lakers grasp for their first victory of the series.

Game Three is tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET, and can be seen nationally on ESPN.

Derrick Rose Struggling To Find Shot In Playoffs

With Friday night’s game on the horizon, Chicago Bulls’ point guard Derrick Rose must regain his stroke from the field as the Bulls hope to regain home court advantage with a win in Game Three against the Atlanta Hawks.

The youngest MVP in NBA history continues to light up the stat sheet in the second round, averaging 10 assists, 5.5 rebounds and over a block and a steal each per game against the  Hawks. However, Rose’s field goal percentage has taken a huge dip, not just against Atlanta, but over the entire postseason.

After shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range during the regular season, Rose is shooting blanks so far in the playoffs. Through seven playoff games, Rose is shooting less than 38 percent from the field and under 22 percent from deep over the course of  the first two rounds of the playoffs. Against the Hawks, Rose is shooting a woeful 38.9 percent overall.

While the Bulls’ point guard scored 24 and 25 points in Game One and Game Two respectively,  it took him 27 shots in each instance to get there.

"We can always step it up," Rose said. "We can always improve each game."

One thing that has to be impacting Rose’s recent play is the sprained left ankle he suffered originally in round one against the Indiana Pacers, and that was re-injured in the closing seconds of Game One against the Atlanta Hawks.   

"My ankle is fine," Rose said after Wednesday’s 86-73 win over Atlanta tied the series at 1-1. "It wasn’t a factor  in the game. I was just trying to push the ball and play at my pace, but my ankle is good."

You have to admire Rose’s willingness to play hurt and not whine about it, but obviously something is bothering him out there. That sprained left ankle seems to be taking away the mobility and burst that made Rose such a dominant, and efficient, player over the course of the regular season.

It’s going to be a whole lot more difficult, but Chicago still has the firepower to advance to the Conference Finals even with Rose (and Carlos Boozer for that matter) less than 100 percent. But the Bulls aren’t the elite team that won 62 games in the regular season, and that looked liked legitimate title contenders, with their superstar hobbled.

Game Three between the Bulls and Hawks is scheduled for Friday night at 7 p.m. ET, and can be seen nationally on ESPN.

Grizzlies Look To Continue Home Dominance

The most surprising team thus far in the 2011 NBA Playoffs, the Memphis Grizzlies, find themselves with the opportunity to take a commanding 2-1 lead against the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday night. The Grizzlies, who knocked off the number one seeded San Antonio Spurs in six games in the first round,  return to Memphis Saturday night having pocketed home court advantage with a split in OKC.

"Our team is good at bouncing back," Grizzlies’ point guard Mike Conley said after Game Two. "We’ve played very well and home and we did a good job of coming in here and getting the split out of these two games so we have to come out and try to take care of our home court."

Memphis, who tied for the fifth-best home record in basketball during the regular season at 30-11, have continued to play extremely well on their home floor so far this postseason.

{AUTHOR_BOX}On defense especially, the Grizzlies have proved to be much more stout in front of their home fans than on the road. In five games away from home so far in these playoffs, Memphis has allowed an average of 102.6 points per contest.

Conversely,  the Grizzlies allowed the Spurs to break 90 just once at home and San Antonio averaged just 88.3 points per game at the FedEx Forum.

As a result, the Grizzlies won all three home games in round one against the Spurs, riding a raucous arena to winning each game by an average of over 9.5 points per contest. Saturday evening NBA fans are going to find out if Memphis can keep up it’s superb home court advantage against the Thunder who, at 25-16, were tied with the Spurs for the fifth-best road record in the regular season.

Game Three between the Thunder and the Grizzlies is Saturday at 5 p.m. ET, and can be seen nationally on ESPN.

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