Tough D in Big D, Part II: Dallas Mavericks Missing The Point Guard

In Part I , I discussed how the Dallas Mavericks' defense is proving to be very proficient at holding the top scorers in the game to well below their season averages in both shooting percentages and points per game.

With that being said, the Mavericks are purely middle of the road when it comes to defensive statistics as a whole.

Part of this is because of the steep drop off after Shawn Marion and Josh Howard when it comes to defense.

But the biggest reason is this: The Mavericks are simply unable to contain high-scoring point guards.

And among the West teams that have a shot at the playoffs, only Derek Fisher and, to a lesser extent, Chauncey Billups are point guards that aren't quick, drive-and-kick style point guards.

Deron Williams, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Aaron Brooks, and Tony Parker are all that style. The Mavs can count on meeting at least one of those point guards in the playoffs, and they simply can't stop them from scoring.

The Mavs have faced those five guards 10 times this year, and only once have they allowed less than 20 points to one of them (Aaron Books). Not a good sign.

Deron Williams is averaging 21 ppg on 50 percent shooting, up from his 19.3 and 49.4 percent on the season.

Chris Paul is averaging 29.5 on 55.6 percent shooting, up from his 19.5 and 49.9 percent on the season.

Aaron Brooks is averaging 21.5 on 43.9 percent, up from his 18.8 and 43.3 percent on the season.

Steve Nash is averaging 27 on 60 percent, up from his 19 and 54.2 percent on the season.

And Tony Parker is averaging 21 points on 44.4 percent, up from 16.9 points per game, but down from his 49.1 percent shooting on the season.

So why are these point guards having such great offensive games against the Mavericks?

With the exception of Jason Richardson and Manu Ginobili, none of these point guards have All-Star caliber shooting guards who are capable of dropping 20-30 points per night.

Guarding point guards has been a Mavs weakness ever since they traded for Jason Kidd. Now, Kidd always has a good reputation as a defender, but at his age, he simply doesn't have the quicks to keep up with these guys who are in their mid 20s.

Guards like the five listed above are so dangerous to the Mavs because they have such a diverse offensive attack. They can drive past point guards, and they can also stop on a dime and pull up for the J.

Now, this isn't to say that this hurts the Mavs, at least not against certain teams. In last year's playoff series against the Spurs, the Mavs' strategy was to lock down everybody but Tony Parker.

Well, Tony Parker averages 28.3 ppg in that series, including 43 in game four, which was attended by yours truly. The Mavs locked everyone else down, and let Tony Parker shred them, but by then end of the game, he was so exhausted from carrying the scoring load, that he was useless, and the Mavs were able to put the game away.

Now, Parker happens to be blessed with one of the better supporting casts in the NBA, with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, and others.

It's certainly better than the casts surrounding Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Aaron Brooks, and Steve Nash. The Mavs are 2-1 against the Spurs, 5-3 against the Hornets, Rockets, and Suns.

So they certainly are capable of winning, even with these point guards going crazy.

The problem is, there are other point guards the Mavs are playing. Brandon Jennings, Baron Davis, Tyreke Evans, Mo Williams, Russell Westbrook, Jerryd Bayless and yes, even sweet young Devin Harris are all out there.

Now, of those, only Mo Williams should really concern the Mavericks come the playoffs, because call me crazy, but I don't see the Bucks or the Nets winning the East.

But then again, if the Mavs meet the Cavaliers in the Finals, Mo Williams is the absolute least of their worries.

The Mavs already addressed this problem in the draft with Rodrigue Beaubois getting picked in the first round. With incredible speed and length, he is the point guard of the future for the Mavs, and he has the ability to be a defensive guard on the level of Chris Paul, Derrick Rose, or Rajon Rondo, who are the three best in the game.

We haven't seen much of Beaubois as of late, as Carlise is being careful in his deployments of Beaubois. With Josh Howard looking to be healthy, Beaubois is probably at the end of the bench, next to James Singleton in playing time.

So while the Mavs' defense is certainly holding the big guns in check, it is also very vulnerable to quick point guards, of which there are plenty of in the West.

The Mavs need to do better about containing the damage from them, because the last few weeks have shown, the offense without Dirk isn't capable of keeping them in games without a really strong defensive effort. While the Mavs are capable of good defensive efforts, it's not something I want to pin my title hopes on.