Until the NBA relocates the playoffs to Bonner's hometown in the New Hampshire capital, any one-on-one battle he has with Nowitzki will be inexorably tilted in favor of Dallas' All-Star forward.

Which is why, for the purposes of defending Nowitzki in this Western Conference first-round series, Bonner is happy he has some help.

"One person can't guard him," said Bonner, the 6-foot-10 Spurs center who has drawn the black bean defensive assignment against the Mavericks. "He's too good."

The Spurs have used as many as five different defenders to invade Nowitzki's personal space, doubling and harassing him and, ostensibly, conducting extensive research on his favorite flavor of chewing gum.

The result: Through two games, Nowitzki - a former league MVP - has been made to look like just another 7-foot German. He is 10 for 29 so far in the series, totaling 33 points and zero 3-pointers - a trend the Spurs hope to maintain heading into Game 3 tonight at American Airlines Center.

"We've put a lot of attention on him, and maybe he hasn't scored as much as he usually does, but it's been very difficult," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We hope to continue to limit him as much as we can, but people like Dirk are difficult to do that with."

With the way the Spurs have controlled Nowitzki, the Mavericks did well to forge a split in Games 1 and 2 in San Antonio.

Nowitzki finished the regular season with 25 straight 20-point games but has yet to reach that mark in the postseason. It is the first time since 2005 that he has gone consecutive playoff games without reaching the 20-point plateau.

Bonner, who opens each game assigned to Nowitzki, will be the first to admit he's no Dirk stopper.

"Oh, God no," Bonner said.

Fortunately for the Spurs, and for Bonner, he doesn't have to be.

Guarding Nowitzki is not a one-man job. The Spurs have found success in crowding him on the catch, with players as disparate as Bonner and Bruce Bowen, then running other defenders at him on the dribble.

The object is to coax Nowitzki to try tough jumpers from the perimeter or, better yet, give up the ball. Even then, the Spurs acknowledge there is only so much a defense can do against a 7-footer with 3-point range.

"All we can do is make it difficult," Bonner said. "You can't completely shut him down. You can only make him work for what he gets."

The tactic of using a small army to hector Nowitzki isn't exactly a reinvention of Basketball strategy. The Mavericks deal with this close to 82 times a season.

What is novel, in this series, is where some of the double-teams are coming from. The Spurs have been particularly aggressive in doubling Nowitzki at the high post, sometimes bringing an extra defender from under the basket.

"I've never seen anybody do that," Nowitzki said.

The unexpected double-teaming has created problems for Nowitzki, who is nimble for a 7-footer but is no Dwyane Wade or Tony Parker off the dribble.

"It's hard, obviously, for a 7-footer to beat the double-team and get to the cup like a small player," Nowitzki said. "If you double-team a Wade or all these other scorers, they're still able to get around and make plays. For a 7-footer, who's non-athletic, it's pretty hard."

Maybe Nowitzki figures it out in Game 3. The Spurs are almost banking on it, bracing for a game in which Dallas' best player goes ballistic despite their best efforts. He is too good a shooter to stay silent for an entire series.

It takes a village to neutralize Nowitzki. For that, Bonner is thankful.

"Trust me," Bonner said, "if it was just me out there, he'd be scoring a lot more points."