Well, it's do or die for the Dallas Mavericks. But are they really up to the task of "doing" it, to the extent that they can at least take the Western Conference finals to a fifth game? The atmosphere does not look like that kind of thing is altogether possible. The Golden State Warriors have been beating them with strategy, and the results are seen on court and on paper as well.

BetOnline customers have seen the Warriors win the last two games by nine points apiece, with a 25-point victory in Game 1 when the Mavs were clearly exhausted from their previous series against Phoenix, where they went on the road to win Game 7.

Now Golden State has the chance to get extra rest by completing a four-game sweep, while Miami and Boston are trading punches in the Eastern Conference.

Game time is 9 PM ET at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Here are the numbers as they have been posted at BetOnline:

Dallas Mavericks -1.5
Golden State Warriors +1.5

Over 215.5 Points -110
Under 215.5 Points -110

You know, Luka Doncic is going to get his numbers. Even the Warriors know that they can't prevent him from scoring. But where they can effect the Mavericks is by preventing Doncic from having real good shots and getting his teammates involved heavily with him in the offense.

A guy with a Usage figure of 38.8% (Doncic led the league in that category this season) is going to organically keep the other guys on the floor out of the action a substantial amount of the time. And the Warriors have resolved themselves to not only offer Doncic a number of different defensive looks and rarely leave themselves vulnerable to being on the losing end of a switch, but also to exploit the inability of the other Mavs to really be difference-makers.

Sure, Jalen Brunson, who's had some huge games in the playoffs, is averaging better than 21 points on 51% shooting.But look at the horrid figures from some of these other guys - Reggie Bullock, who pulls a lot of time on the court, is at 30%. So is Davis Bertans, who runs hot and cold anyway.

One of the people Dallas was hoping could provide some versatility in the frontcourt is Max Kleber, who had helped keep the team afloat early in the series against Utah. Well, he's made just two field goals in 14 attempts, and all of those attempts have come from beyond the three-point line.

That's another problem for the Mavs - they just haven't made their triples. Yes, Golden State has closed out well, but Dallas has made just 33.7% of its wide-open threes. So when you think about it, there is some upside. But it requires them to get hot. And in this series, the Warriors have had a 53.1% - 41% overall shooting edge, with Dallas held to 29% from downtown (18 of 45) in Game 3.

Doncic has only 15 assists in this series. Ideally he would need to do more, so as to spread a lot of this offense around. It's going to be a challenge, unless Dallas is able to throw caution to the wind very early.

Kudos to Mike Brown, the former Cavs and Lakers head coach who functions as a "defensive coordinator" for Steve Kerr. And of course, you need guys to implement all this, and the Warriors, who by the way might be better shooters from long range than the Mavs, and could duel that way if they have to, have gotten those defensive contributions from the likes of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson - who have been part of the NBA's All-Defensive team - and Andrew Wiggins, who has not.

With an offensive rebound percentage of just 15.2%, Dallas has surely not figured out a way to carve out second-shot opportunities when they miss. So they better not miss.

We're not going to pay for that to happen. Take the road team.

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