DALLAS -- Vince Carter has looked for his shot; he just hasn't made many of them. Coach Rick Carlisle told him to keep looking.

"He's just got to stay aggressive," Carlisle said. "In Game 1 he drove the ball very aggressively. Game 2 he didn't get it into the paint as much, but those opportunities have to be there for guys to drive. We don't want him to just run over a guy just because, hey, it's time to drive the ball because you're in a playoff series. He's got to read the situations that are there, but we want to keep the ball moving so we get chances to attack them."

Carter is 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from the floor in the series, and 0-of-4 on 3-pointers. The cold snap comes on the heels of a significant offensive surge to close the regular season. In the final five games, Carter averaged 16.2 points on 25-of-50 shooting. The Mavs could use as a special kind of night out of Carter the way the Thunder benefited in Game 1 from Serge Ibaka's season-high 22 points and Derek Fisher's 5-of-6 shooting in Game 2.

"That always helps," Carter said of a big night from an unexpected source. "I still think everybody needs just to play their game and be who they are and we need that. I think we've shown we've done well in that aspect, but at the same time when you can get somebody to play a phenomenal game of basketball and have a phenomenal night, that's going to help. So, in other words, every player should just come ready to give us something special.

"I don't think we should put in our mind, oh somebody has to come out there; no, come out there and play your game, but we could definitely use something special from anyone."