Defense in Dallas?

Mavs Defense: Tonight the Dallas Mavericks played defense...to win a game! The Nations Capital is where the Mavs played one of the finest defensive games I think I've ever seen them play. 


They recorded 9 blocks, and 9 steals. Thats 18 bad possessions forced by the Mavericks who only turned the ball over themselves 11 times. One of those nine blocks could be considered a game preserver I guess? Shawn Marion blocked Caron Butler's last second shot attempt which, had it been allowed to go in would have won the game for the Wizards. Shawn Marion is by far Dallas' best defender. Especially in one on one situations. That is why he has been such an important part of what the Mavs are trying to accomplish this season. It is something that Rick Carlisle has preached vigorously as the one thing that WILL win games. He put it this way the other day, "offense comes and goes and the shots will go down eventually, but defense is something that you can take with you." Good thing the airline found their defensive baggage before the Boston game the other night, the first game of this five game trip was in Toronto and the Mavs were clearly without any D whatsoever; maybe the Canadian border patrol confiscated it...anyway...We all know the Mavs can score. They've been doing that since Dirk and Nash were running circles around opposing teams and averaging 110 points a game. Even the squad that made the finals outscored everyone to death. But seriously...when was the last time that the Dallas Mavericks beat another team by blocking the final shot? Typically when the opposing star has the rock and begins to chunk up a prayer we look up and see no one in a Dallas uniform within spitting distance and figure our only chance of winning is fate. Well...thats just not good enough, and it never has been...clearly!


The Mavs under Rick Carlisle are undefeated in 1 point games and have won their last 9 straight 1 point games. It used to be a certainty that when the Mavs scored 85 points or so that they were going to lose for sure...not anymore! The Mavericks are 7-1 in games decided by 3 points or less. And while typically teams fall behind in the first half struggle to recover in the second half, the Mavs have won more games this season than any other team in the league when trailing after halftime. That means that Dallas has found a way to get stops on the defensive end when they needed them. And their league best 11 wins when trailing after halftime is a testament to a defensive intensity that the Dallas Mavericks have never had before. The Mavs have made it clear this season that at times they are willing to squeeze you defensively and get a lot of stops. Early on in the season they were holding teams like Houston to scoring droughts that lasted up to ten minutes. The problem this year though, hasn't been the defense, it has been the offense. 


Mavs Offense: I would like to make it clear however that Dirk Nowitzki is not part of that problem. Dirk is averaging his usual 26 points a game or so. The problem area has been little to no offensive production from Jason Terry and Josh Howard. Shawn Marion has stepped up of late and even Drew Gooden and Damp have helped out offensively. The thing that will put the Mavs over the top, the one thing that will make them able to compete with the Lakers in the post season will be the defensive intensity we've seen lately, along with Josh Howard scoring the basketball, (taking 30 shots a game to get to 15 points doesn't count). And Terry has to get back to being...Terry.


If the Mavericks do take their defense into the post season and make some noise this could be the best defense we've seen played in Dallas since the last Doomsday D the Cowboys had...or possibly the Stars when they won the cup...that defense was extremely stout!