When this series started between Dallas and Golden State more than a week ago, I told my Dallas-loving colleagues that Golden State would give us all we could handle.

After the first game, I said G-State would sweep. At worst, they would win 4-1.

I knew it. Don Nelson was in Dallas' head. He was in Avery Johnson's head. The Warriors came to ball, and Don Nelson was getting the most out of guys like Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson.

Matt Barnes had turned into the real MVP of the NBA.

Dallas' 67-15 year was going to be wasted, the third No. 1 seed to fall in the NBA's first round ever and the first since the league went to seven-game series in the opening round.

With a loss on Tuesday night, Dirk Nowitzki's days in North Texas would have been all but over. The crowd at the American Airlines Center would have booed its own team and owner Mark Cuban off the floor. It would have been an embarrassment, and I would have been right there with them.

Heck, as it was 112-103 with 3:51 left, I figured we were dead.

It was like watching Oklahoma come back against Boise State from down 28-10 in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl this January. We'd start to make advances, and I would think to myself, "C'mon, now, let's only do this if we're serious."

While Oklahoma didn't end up victorious, the Sooners took part in the greatest bowl game of my lifetime. It was a moral victory where there should have been one. Odd.

There would have been no moral victories for the Mavericks with a loss tonight though. I absolutely could have seen a Game 5 loss costing Avery Johnson his job. Johnson's decision to go small in the first game was a critical, numnuts error, and it allowed Don Nelson to set the tone of the entire series.

Don't get me wrong. I love Avery Johnson. However, I also believe in accountability, and losing in the first round to Golden State when you had the best record in the NBA, among the 10 best records of all time, is not acceptable.

The Japanese would insist their team leader fall on a knife; the least we could do is insist on a resignation.

However, of all things, Dirk The Supposed MVP led us back, and the Mavs escaped with a 118-112 win after a 15-0 run to end the game. It was a stunning collapse that, actually, reminded me of Miami's Game 3 win in South Florida over Dallas in the finals last year.

We had it. They took it. Mysteriously, they ran the table.

In this case, the Warriors had it, and we took it.

Dallas must do like Miami did last season, what we did against the Rockets two years ago, and I'm here to tell you it's possible.

First, Dirk needs to step up tomorrow and go Mark Messier on this sucker, guaranteeing a Game 6 win like the Rangers' hockey captain did against Vancouver in 1994. Guarantee it, and don't fiddle around.

See, Dirk's career in Dallas is all but over with a first-round series loss to Golden State. The organization will have little choice, in my opinion, to trade him or, at least, to demote him to second-fiddle, bringing in a bigger star to run things, allowing the soft German to be the Gilligan to somebody else's Skipper.

So, we need Dirk to step up and take the pressure off. I absolutely believe guaranteeing a Game 6 win in no uncertain terms would get his teammates in the right mindset. They need to approach the next two games as if their very lives depended on it. Like it was everything. Like they are the underdog ... because at this point, they are.

Second, Mark Cuban is a billionaire. If he wants to escape the first round, he needs to find a way to find out who owns season tickets in Oakland and buy them out. Buy out the lot of them. Send loud Dallas fans to Oakland.

You don't think this is possible?

Golden State doesn't exactly have the most passionate fan base. They can be bought.

Lastly, the Mavericks need to secretly designate somebody in BOTH a Game 6 and Game 7 to get Baron and Stephen ejected. Deadly serious. Without those two guys, the Warriors cannot win, and while both Davis and Jackson are terrific players, they are stupid, emotional players.

They can't control themselves.

I nominate Erick Dampier. Talk some smack. Give a hard, clean foul or four. Lure them into something stupid, and do it such that the league will never know.

The latter two ideas are pretty out there. I know.

I would love the idea of taking Baron and Stephen out if it could be done in a way that would be inauspicious to the league.

However, what Dallas really, really needs is for Dirk to be a man.

Stone up. Guarantee a Game 6 win. Guarantee a series win. Guarantee something.

He might as well because a loss in this series could spell the end for Dirk in Dallas.