DEFENSE!

[zanahale]

If I have learned one thing about the Mavericks its that they can look like two different teams in any given half...when our defense picked up in the 2nd half last night agains the Kings, we looked like a whole different team. Our shots just happend to start falling whereas they werent necessarily in the later part of the 1st and all of the 2nd...coincidence?

The obvious observation is this:

When our defense is clicking, we seem to run our offense alot smoother and shoot a higher percentage.

When only our offense alone is clicking, we seem to break down BIGTIME on the defense side....everybody already knows the significance of defense and how it had been pretty bad for us, but I just thought I would make the correlation on how it affected us in the Kings game last night....they have GOT to start focusing on defense!...hopefully they will soon and when they figure that out, I think this team will get significantly better!

With us, DEFENSE fuels the Offense, not the other way around!!!!

[Max Power]

Jamison also sat the entire 4th quarter. We only gave up 19 points in the 4th quarter. Coincidence?

[zanahale]

not necessarily...if you recall, Dirk and Finley are the ones that got alot of the key stops and blocks in the 2nd half...it was a team effort though, and the effort was decided before they even hit the floor in the 2nd half... ALL of them cracked down...I've seen Jamison be soft at times, but at other times, I've seen him play some decent defense (specifically steals)...I wouldnt single him out at all...they all played like shlt on defense the first half. It could have just as easily been jamison out there in the 2nd half...if it wasnt for Jamison, we would have really been down in the 1st half!...yes it is a coincidence!

[Kenny_01]

It also co-incided with Bobby Jackson throwing brick after brick in the last quarter when left wide open.

The last quarter is historically lower scoring as players fatigue.

Thought Jamison did a decent job on D last night regardless. We just miss a strong inside presence... a shot blocker.

[seelenjaeger]

Originally posted by: Kenny_01
It also co-incided with Bobby Jackson throwing brick after brick in the last quarter when left wide open.

The last quarter is historically lower scoring as players fatigue.

Thought Jamison did a decent job on D last night regardless. We just miss a strong inside presence... a shot blocker.

... to knock down all those open threes oppents are taking.

huh? we were in double digits in blocks last night iirc and a shot blocker is a very bad defense against outside shooting.

[Chiwas]

With us, DEFENSE fuels the Offense, not the other way around!!!!

It wasn't the way it used to be last three season, although last season was closer to that statement. The fast breaks that Dallas dominated made the team rule many games with high scores from both teams, but usually Dallas deflated the other team, running and running.

[kg_veteran]

I think Jamison sat out in the 4th quarter because the Kings went with a smaller lineup and Nellie made the right move by leaving Howard in to cover the smaller players.

The entire team played good TEAM defense in the second half. They were in a man-to-man set virtually the entire time and the help off of the repeated pick and rolls, cuts and slashes that Sacramento uses was tremendous.

I thought that the effort of Mike Finley and Josh Howard really stood out in the 4th quarter. Both were excellent in man-to-man and help situations.

Dirk was great on the defensive glass in the 2nd half and really appeared to take on the challenge of defending Divac down low. He still gave up a couple of easy hoops and gave up position too easily at times, but I have to remind myself that Divac is still a pretty fair player himself.

One other guy who played excellent defense in the second half but wasn't really recognized for it was Steve Nash. He denied penetration by Bibby and really worked his ass off.


I'm not going to get overly excited about one half, particularly when it followed a bunch of bad defensive halves, but I will say this: You got a glimpse of what COULD be in the second half against Sacramento. If you had someone to give Nash a 15-16 minute break a night and guys at the center spot who could give you 20-30 minutes of relief inside (depending upon the opponent and situation), you might just have enough defensively on the team as it is.

Some big "ifs", I know.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: kg_veteran
I think Jamison sat out in the 4th quarter because the Kings went with a smaller lineup and Nellie made the right move by leaving Howard in to cover the smaller players.

The entire team played good TEAM defense in the second half. They were in a man-to-man set virtually the entire time and the help off of the repeated pick and rolls, cuts and slashes that Sacramento uses was tremendous.

I thought that the effort of Mike Finley and Josh Howard really stood out in the 4th quarter. Both were excellent in man-to-man and help situations.

Dirk was great on the defensive glass in the 2nd half and really appeared to take on the challenge of defending Divac down low. He still gave up a couple of easy hoops and gave up position too easily at times, but I have to remind myself that Divac is still a pretty fair player himself.

One other guy who played excellent defense in the second half but wasn't really recognized for it was Steve Nash. He denied penetration by Bibby and really worked his ass off.


I'm not going to get overly excited about one half, particularly when it followed a bunch of bad defensive halves, but I will say this: You got a glimpse of what COULD be in the second half against Sacramento. If you had someone to give Nash a 15-16 minute break a night and guys at the center spot who could give you 20-30 minutes of relief inside (depending upon the opponent and situation), you might just have enough defensively on the team as it is.

Some big "ifs", I know.

So far the Mavs defense has been nothing more than a tease. We'll show promises for a bit, and then look like the worst team in the league on D. Let's hope that it can progress to be more than just a tease.

[Chiwas]

Once people wanted rebounds and now defense.

As if it wasn't the same thing, or better yet, rebounding part of defense, even offensive rebounding.

However, it hasn't given us neither more wins nor best points allowed per game ratio.

The key seems to be elusively in other part.