OAKLAND, Calif. - There were 20,000 yellow T-shirts handed out to fans at Friday night's game. On the front of those shirts was the simple message: We Believe.

Two more nights like this and the Mavericks can steal the slogan and modify it into: We Bereave.

Overwhelmed, that's what they were. Golden State's explosive offense sliced up the Mavericks for a 109-91 lashing at Oracle Arena. The Warriors moved back in front, 2-1, in the best-of-seven first-round series. The Mavericks are two losses from becoming just the third No. 1-seeded team in NBA history to lose to an eighth seed in the first round.

"We could never get it under control," coach Avery Johnson said. "We didn't have the passion, the fire, the intensity or the physicality to win this game."

Or the defense. Or the offense.

About the only thing they were really competitive in was that they showed they can have a loss-of-composure meltdown every bit as impressive as Golden State's two nights earlier.

Losing their cool amid a ravenous crowd that had waited 13 years between home playoff games, the Mavericks know now that they are in jeopardy against the athletic Warriors, who pounded them with 52 points in the paint, 34 in the first half when they took a 13-point lead.

LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN

There was plenty of room to roam inside for Baron Davis and the Warriors, who scored 52 points in the paint.

"It's obvious," said Jason Terry. "The more aggressive team is going to win in this series. It's happened in all three games."

So the obvious question is why have the Mavericks have been outworked? The Warriors' dominance got to them so much in the third quarter that the Mavericks were whistled for three technical fouls as the Warriors stashed the game in their hip pockets.

This is stunning territory for the Mavs. And for the Warriors, too. Having ended a 13-year drought between playoff appearances, they are up 2-1 in a series for the first time since the 1977 first round. That was the year before Dirk Nowitzki was born.

"We've been in worse holes," said Jerry Stackhouse. "But we didn't want to dig this hole at all. We got some things to correct, and we need to correct them fast because we're running out of games."

The Mavericks had no answer for Golden State's aggressive moves to the basket. Jason Richardson came alive with 30 points, and the Warriors won the rebounding battle for the first time in the series.

When the domination was over, the Mavericks knew one thing for certain: it will not be easy to win in this environment. Golden State got its best game of the series from just about everybody who played, with the exception of Game 1 hero Baron Davis.

Don Nelson inserted Andris Biedrins into his starting lineup, and it seemed to energize the rest of the Warriors. All five Warrior starters were in double figures.

The Mavericks were never a threat after halftime. Dirk Nowitzki had a strong first half but was beaten down in the second as the Warriors got physical with him.

The Warriors, meanwhile, were energized from start to finish and handled themselves with comportment, something the Mavericks didn't always do. And the scene in the arena was nothing short of electric.

The fans waited 13 years between home playoff games at Golden State, but they never forgot how to rock the joint.

A sea of yellow wasn't exactly easy on the eyes. But it was the noise inside Oracle Arena that made life miserable for the Mavericks.

Either the noise or the Warriors' relentless offensive execution.

LOUIS DeLUCA/DMN

Jason Richardson draws a foul on Mavericks center Erick Dampier with a nifty reverse layup in the third quarter. The resulting three-point play was part of Richardson's 30-point night.

Exhibit A for how Golden State was carving up the Mavericks came in the form of 34 points in the paint in the first half. There were 25 games this season when the Mavericks didn't allow that many point-blank points in 48 minutes. To surrender that many in 24 minutes was inexcusable.

Not surprisingly, they were down, 61-48, at halftime and had trailed by as many as 18 points in the second quarter.

This did not look anything like the team that was 31-10 on the road in the regular season.

When the Warriors started the third quarter with three consecutive baskets on layups or dunks, Johnson had seen enough and called a timeout. The lead was back to its biggest of the game, 68-50. And the Warriors weren't done attacking the rim. The way the Mavericks weren't putting up any resistance, there was no reason for the Warriors to drift outside the paint.