Dallas ? Raef LaFrentz has some studying to do.

The Dallas Mavericks practiced for nearly two hours instead of the typical one-hour session on Friday, and the session contained more than a bit of confusion.

Dallas' Raef LaFrentz, left, scores against Sacramento as teammate Johnny Newman looks on. LaFrentz had 14 points and six rebounds in his Dallas debut, and the Mavericks defeated the Kings, 111-97, Saturday in Dallas.

On Thursday, the Mavericks acquired LaFrentz, Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson and Tariq Abdul-Wahad from Denver in exchange for Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Donnell Harvey, $1 million and Dallas’ first-round pick in the next draft.

The new Mavericks hadn’t yet had an opportunity to study the Mavericks’ playbook, and discovered that the Nuggets and Mavericks have many plays with the same name that are completely different.

“I’m criss-crossing into guys,” LaFrentz said. “We’ll call out one play, and I’ll run the old Denver play and be lost.”

Fellow Kansas alum Danny Manning helped the new Mavericks center with many of the details, but the squad expects some uneasiness until everyone is adjusted.

“You have to wing it for the first week or so until they get accustomed to the terminology, play-calling and all the complicated defensive stuff we do,” Mavs coach Don Nelson said.

Given the choice, the Mavericks probably wouldn’t have picked the league’s best team for their first opponent following the seven-player trade.

Alas, it was the Sacramento Kings with their league-best 40-15 record that the new Mavericks faced Saturday. On a nationally televised NBC game, no less.

The newcomers fit in nicely for the Mavericks. But Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki still led the way in a 111-97 victory over the Kings.

Nash scored 28 points and Nowitzki had 26 points and 21 rebounds as the Mavericks, with key contributions from LaFrentz and Van Exel in their debuts.

“We looked good and the new guys fit in well,” Nowitzki said. “It will be a while before we really know how to play with each other, but the future is bright.”

LaFrentz had 14 points and six rebounds, while Van Exel had eight points and eight assists. Both played about 30 minutes

In the end, the Mavericks’ two All-Stars still made the difference.

Nash shot 10-for-13 in the game and scored 15 straight points in a 22-6 third-quarter run that put Dallas ahead to stay. Nowitzki had his second straight game with more than 20 points and 20 rebounds.

“I got a few good looks. I knocked them down and got my confidence going. That made it easy for me,” Nash said. “With the new guys, we can really spread the floor and give a lot of different looks.”

The Kings had a 58-51 lead when Chris Webber made a 19-foot jumper with 9:07 left in the third quarter. Nash then started the turnaround for Dallas, making consecutive 3-pointers to begin his personal scoring run.

“He can do that in a heartbeat,” Nowitzki said. “He’s the heart and soul of the whole team.”

Nash tied the game at 64 when he hit a short jumper with 4:09 left in the third quarter. After Scot Pollard traveled, Nash drove for a layup that put the Mavericks ahead to stay, and ended his stretch of 15 straight points.

Webber had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Kings.

Sacramento, despite losing three of its last four games, still has the NBA’s best record (40-15) and a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the Pacific Division.