updated 2:28 a.m. ET April 26, 2007

DALLAS - Tired of hearing about everything they did wrong in the playoff opener, the Dallas Mavericks sure did a lot right in Game 2.

Jason Terry scored 28 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 23 and Josh Howard led a 15-2 run in the third quarter that sent the Mavericks to a 112-99 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, evening their first-round series.

Dallas had lost six straight to Golden State dating to last season. The Mavericks’ search for a skid-buster included a new, smaller starting lineup in Game 1, but that only resulted in a 12-point loss.

So coach Avery Johnson went back to the formula that won 67 games in the regular season and saw his club back in synch from the start. The center tandem of Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop proved they can hold their own against Golden State’s little guys, and sixth man Jerry Stackhouse bounced back from a scoreless opener to put up 17 points.

“Everybody talked about the Xs and Os and the decision Avery made to go smaller, but it really wasn’t that,” Stackhouse said. “It was just the fact we didn’t compete. I thought we came out and really competed tonight for 48 minutes and the game went in our favor.”

Then again, it was easier with the Warriors’ two best players getting ejected.

Baron Davis was tossed with 0.2 seconds left in the third quarter and Stephen Jackson was lost with 4:34 left in the game. Golden State already was trailing when the technical fouls started piling up.

“We’re not good enough to lose a player to an ejection, much less two,” Warriors coach Don Nelson said. “It hurt us when we lost Baron. I thought we had a shot at the time. It wasn’t to be.”

The series shifts to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night, and there’s little doubt the emotions will remain high.

The Warriors certainly won’t be unhinged by this loss, just their second in the last 12 games. Nelson won’t allow it. He’s kept his club loose, telling everyone they were lucky to win the opener and that there was a better chance of him being hit by lightning than of his team winning Game 2. His task now will be harnessing Jackson and Davis’ emotions.

Johnson expected Dallas to bounce back strong. The Mavericks have lost consecutive games only once since starting the season 0-4, and last year they recovered from two Game 1 losses to win Game 2 both times. They went on to win both series, too.

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Still, this victory was a bit of a relief to the Mavs because it ended a five-game postseason losing streak that started in last year’s NBA finals and it should quiet talk of Nellie and the Warriors having their number.

“We needed to turn it up,” said Howard, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds. “They were aggressive at the start of the last game and we didn’t respond. This time, we turned it around.”

Dallas was finishing off its game-changing stretch when things started getting out of control.

The bad blood started when Terry dribbled into Jackson, drawing a foul, then kept going into Davis. Words were exchanged and there was some shoving, but officials broke it up by giving those three players technical fouls.

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Davis got another tech, and an automatic ejection, for arguing about a foul with 0.2 seconds left in the third quarter. He was smiling and clapping at the time, which he said was to keep his teammates’ spirits up.

“I wasn’t trying to show up the refs,” he said. “I was trying to keep my emotions in check. Emotion is what got us to the playoffs. We have to channel that emotion into playing better defense.”

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