Tough D in Big D, Part I: Dallas Mavericks Defense Shutting Down the Big Guns

For as long as I can remember, the identity of the Dallas Mavericks has revolved around their offense. Whether it was Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley, and Steve Nash or Dirk, Jason Terry, and Josh Howard, the Mavs do not have trouble putting the ball in the basket.

But to win a title, you have to play both ends on the floor at the very least, and it never hurts to rely more on the defense, as the 2007-08 Celtics showed us.

The last time the Mavericks came together as a defensive unit, it took them to the Finals, with Erick Dampier and DeSegana Diop holding down the paint, and the rest of the team following suit.

This year the Mavericks came into training camp with a new defensive mindset. While the start of the 2008-09 season was focused on getting the offense in rhythm during the first new training camp with Jason Kidd, this season they did almost no defense.

Jason Kidd was one of the first to notice when Terry and Dirk, the team's offensive stalwarts, came in with a dedication to defense.

"I think it starts with Dirk and Jet," Kidd said to ESPNDallas ' Jeff Caplan. "Those guys talked about playing defense at the beginning of training camp. Those are your two best offensive weapons and those guys are talking about defense. People are always going to talk about [Nowitzki's] offense, but right now I think his defense is the best that I've ever seen."

And it's true. Dirk's defense this year will be overshadowed by his offensive highlights, but he has stepped it up, most notably when he kept Tim Duncan scoreless during the OT period of the Nov. 18 win over the Spurs. Drew Gooden had fouled out and Dampier was out with his mystery illness, and Dirk forced Duncan (who had dropped 22 points up to that point) into 0-3 shooting, with all of those shots being closer than eight feet.

But the real hero of the Mavericks defense has been Shawn Marion. I have been very impressed with his willingness to be that defensive stopper and relegating himself to a third or fourth offensive option.

Marion has been guarding the other team's best shooter on most nights, and he's been forcing them into very inefficient nights.

In fact, against Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Durant, five young men who happen to be the top five scorers in the league right now, the Mavs have been downright dominant.

Against the rest of the NBA, those five are averaging 28.8 points per game on 48 percent shooting. Against the Mavericks, they are averaging 20.1 points per game on 36 percent shooting.

That's no small difference. Considering that 'Melo and Kobe are two of the big guns that the Mavericks will most likely be seeing in the playoffs (at least, if all goes according to plan), it's a good sign for the future.

Marion and Howard are the team's best two perimeter defenders, and they have been in and out of the lineup through the beginning of the season. Quinton Ross was brought in to be a similar type of stopper, and he has missed significant time as well. 

As 2010 begins, the Mavericks finally seem to be getting over the injury bug (knock on wood), and with that defensive trio ready to go, the Mavs are set to start locking down on the big scorers.

With such a powerful defensive effort against the league's best scorers, one would expect the Mavs to be a top defensive team in points allowed per game and opposing team's shooting percentage.

That's not the case. The Mavs are allowing 97.8 points per game, good for only 14th in the NBA, fully middle-of-the-pack. They're a little better when it comes to opposing field goal percentage, holding them to 44.8 percent, or ninth best in the league.

It's an odd combination of numbers, that's for sure, and there are several reasons for it.

First, there is quite a big drop off on defense after Marion and Howard. While Terry, Dirk, and Kidd came into camp with a renewed defensive focus and aggressiveness, they're still not defensive stoppers by any means.

And the more games Dirk is forced to shoulder the scoring load, the less energy he has on the defensive end. The more games Jason Terry plays at the shooting guard position, the more there is a size mismatch for the Mavs. Jason Kidd is almost better guarding shooting guards, since he has the bulk to body them up, but he lacks the speed to stay with the slashing guards that so many teams feature.

Secondly, the Mavs have a tendency to get comfortable defensively when the other team's superstar is having an off night, which allows role players to have career high-type nights.

Perennial role players like Will Bynum, Kyle Lowry, Kyrylo Fesenko, Luther Head, Ersan Ilyasova, and Vlidimir Radmanovic have all had massive nights against the Mavericks, much to my eternal frustration.

It's almost as if the Mavs see that people like Kobe, Deron Williams, or Brandon Roy are having an off night, so they just relax on defense, and it comes back to burn them.

The third reason is their seeming inability to contain quick, scoring point guards, and that I will get into in the second part of this look into the Dallas Mavericks defense.

Until then...

For more of my work on the NBA's Southwest division, check me out on FanHuddle .