DALLAS — At the same time Sacramento regained control of its Western Conference semifinal against the Dallas Mavericks, Kings coach Rick Adelman had to start thinking of ways to reshuffle his lineup without Peja Stojakovic.
Stojakovic isn't expected to play in Game 4 today and may not play the rest of the series because of a badly sprained ankle.
"You've just got to assume it's going to be a little bit of time before he will be able to play," Adelman said Friday. "He turned it pretty good."
Without Stojakovic, the Kings will have to find somebody else to be the primary defender to pester Dirk Nowitzki. Hedo Turkoglu likely takes over Stojakovic's starting role, but that takes away a quality reserve.
"It puts a cramp on us defensively because we've been guarding Nowitzki with Hedo and Peja both," Adelman said. "We have to have other guys that are ready to go."
Backup center Scot Pollard should play more than the 11 minutes he got Thursday after not playing in Game 2. But Adelman also expects to use Gerald Wallace, Chucky Brown and/or Lawrence Funderburke, a trio that has combined to play just four minutes this series.
Stojakovic was hurt midway through the third quarter Thursday when he stepped on teammate Vlade Divac. He had to be carried off the court and wasn't at practice Friday.
Doug Christie, who went down in the second quarter with his own sprained right ankle, returned after Stojakovic was hurt. He scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and the Kings won 125-119 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Christie expects to play Saturday, but Adelman said he will handle Christie cautiously to make sure he doesn't hurt himself more.
"It's just tender and hurts to walk a little bit," Christie said. "But I plan doing whatever I can."
While the Kings tried to recover physically, Mavericks coach Don Nelson tried to repair Nowitzki's psyche. The two met for more than 20 minutes before practice Friday.
Even though Nowitzki scored 19 points in Game 3, he was 6-of-15 from the field and had just five rebounds. He didn't respond to Nelson's obvious verbal challenges during the game.
"I don't like to see Dirk with this kind of physical and mental kind of down period right now," Nelson said. "His body feels a little tired . . . they've made him work for everything."
Nelson knows the Kings are focusing their attention on Nowitzki, which is the same thing he said he would do if he was on the opposite side.
"Here's a young player that hasn't gone through this before," Nelson said. "He's never been the focal point of a game plan like that, where they basically are saying if they can control Nowitzki, they can win the series."
In the three-game sweep of Minnesota in the first round, Nowitzki dominated with 33.3 points and 15.7 rebounds per game. Through the first three games against Sacramento, those numbers are down to 21.3 points and 11.3 rebounds.
"I couldn't find my rhythm at all the first three games. They are taking me out of my game," Nowitzki said. "When my offensive game isn't going, I have to find other ways to be effective. That what I didn't do, and it's frustrating for me."