Both of these teams have been labeled 'soft' at various times. Usually, the criticism of the Lakers is followed by something about them lacking interest. For the Mavs, it has been attached to a decade of disappointment in the postseason. It has to do with them not being able to close out games. With not being physical enough. With not being mentally tough enough to overcome adversity. Last night the Mavs showed their toughness with a 96-94 win in Los Angeles.

The Mavs didn't fold after falling down by 16 early in the third and for a change against the Lakers they held their own in the paint and on the boards. The team toughness combined with having the ultimate mismatch in Dirk Nowitzki was enough on this night.

The Lakers most glaring advantage against every team is their size. No one has two post players like Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Bynum was the biggest reason the Lakers handled the Hornets in the first round and why they reeled off 17 of 18 after the all-star break. He's one of the top rebounders in the league and is extremely efficient on offense getting high percentage looks right at the rim. But Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood neutralized Bynum. He finished shooting 3 of 8 for 8 points and only grabbed 5 rebounds. It was just the fifth time all season he has had 5 or fewer rebounds while playing over 25 minutes. The Lakers gave Bynum plenty of chances but he was forced to pass the ball back out when neither Haywood or Chandler gave up an inch while he tried to back them down. Those stats don't even do how ineffective he was justice. Of those 3 made field goals, 2 were dunks assisted on by Gasol.

Speaking of Gasol, he held his own with a solid performance. He finished 5 of 10 for 15 points, 11 rebounds and added 7 assists. Not too shabby but certainly not a dominating performance. And in typical Gasol-fashion he disappeared in the fourth where he had 1 assist and 3 rebounds. What will it take for him to demand the ball towards the end of games?

Much of the talk of this game will be about the bench production. The Mavericks' bench outscored the Lakers' bench 40-25. But this is a bit misleading. DeShawn Stevenson starts for the Mavs but it's Jason Terry who plays starter minutes. Stevenson played 10 minutes and didn't score once. Terry played 30 minutes and went 6 of 10 for 15 points. If you switch those two then it makes it 25-25. I guess you could do the same for Odom and Bynum since Odom played a couple more minutes than Bynum and it comes out to 25-18. Either way though, it's not quite the advantage most will make it out to be.

Where the Mavs had a huge advantage was whoever was guarding Dirk Nowitzki. If Dallas can win this series maybe Dirk will finally get the recognition he deserves as one of the all-time greats. How are you supposed to guard that guy? The Lakers tried largely with Odom and a little with Gasol. Against Gasol he hit 4 of his 5 shots and had 10 points. Against Odom he was 6 of 13 for 15 points. Clearly Odom did a better job but it was not easy. This also means that if Odom has to check Nowitzki, the Lakers can't play Gasol and Bynum at the same time with Dirk on the floor. And with that, there goes the Lakers dominant size advantage. That is the reason Nowitzki is a game-changer in this series.

Ron Artest was a bit of a game-changer in the Hornets series. He shot over 50-percent and contributed 10 points. He was in all the right spots and was knocking down the open looks. Artest had an off-night last night hitting on 1 of 8 shots for 2 points. It wasn't just the final numbers but also the fact that all 8 of those shots were uncontested. He had great looks at the basket and nearly missed them all.

The Mavericks made the interesting choice of not double-teaming Bryant. Kobe went to work against DeShawn Stevenson and Corey Brewer among others. But it was Jason Kidd who finally posed a problem to Bryant in the closing minutes. Kidd bodied him up behind the 3-point line and really slowed him down. Bryant was able to get by Kidd with 20 seconds left but was met by Tyson Chandler at the rim and his pass out to the perimeter was picked off by Jason Terry. On the Lakers next possession, Kidd was right on Kobe's heels forcing him to trip over his own feet while trying to come around Gasol and receive the ball. Bryant's shoulder hit the ball out of Pau's hand and Kidd wound up with the ball. Bryant got one more chance to win the game but his 3-point attempt hit the back of the rim and popped out.

Game 2 is the most interesting in a 7-game series. What adjustments will each coach make? Will the trends continue or was Game 1 a fluke? I don't know who will win the series but I do know this Mavericks team is much tougher than past ones and every single game this series could easily be as tightly contested as this one.