Dallas Mavericks Breakdown: Delightful D Leads To Garden Romp

With Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and Jason Kidd getting up there in age, this season may be the Dallas Mavericks’ last chance at seriously contending for a championship.

Sensing this, the Mavs have quietly played excellent basketball and are currently a half game away from having the second best record in the Western Conference.

But there was nothing quiet about Dallas’ matinee performance against the New York Knicks, a 128-78 apocalypse where Dallas obliterated the Knicks in every facet of the game.

Equally as resonant was the fact that Dallas dominated without two starters, Erick Dampier and Jason Kidd.

While certainly the Mavs can’t expect to routinely trounce their opposition by 50-plus points on the road, the contest does illuminate why the Mavs can still dream of hoisting a championship this spring.

As usual, it starts with their defense.

The Mavericks went under ball screens involving Chris Duhon and went between the Knicks’ various off-ball screens. Because Chris Duhon is not a finisher and because he has struggled with his jump shot, giving up open shots to Duhon was worth not letting the Knicks continuity discover open shots.

Duhon shot 2-7, missed all four of his threes, and the Knicks offense never opened up.

Drew Gooden dominated David Lee, holding him to 11 points on 5-16 shooting, with 14 boards. Meanwhile, Gooden was consistently able to attack Lee off the dribble or with a short right hook at the basket. And Gooden was extremely active on the boards.

For the duration, Gooden shot six for 11, pulled down 18 boards, and played exceptional screen defense by zoning his area well in order to prevent the Mavs from making radical defensive rotations.

Shawn Marion likewise had a stellar defensive game, having the size and speed to defend New York’s pair of oversized wings in Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari.

The Mavs initially had some trouble with baseline cross screens, initiating Chandler post attempts over Jason Terry, but the Knicks only converted twice on their four Chandler post attempts.

Rodrigue Beaubois has feline quickness into the passing lanes and moves his feet well on the perimeter. He can certainly develop into a premier defensive player at this level.

In Beaubois, Marion, Quinton Ross, Josh Howard, and James Singleton, the Mavs have five players who smother the perimeter.

With Dallas jamming all of New York’s weak-side action, going under most ball-screens, and covering ground on the perimeter, the Knicks were forced to resort to fruitless isolations and desperate chucking.

Meanwhile, few teams convert transition opportunities as well as the Mavs.

Terry and Howard love to leak out on closeouts and shoot in a broken field, Marion is an excellent finisher on the break, and Barea is quick and crafty with the ball. When Jason Kidd is healthy, he’s one of the best fast break decision makers of all time.

The Mavs don’t unilaterally attack the rim in transition. Terry and Howard were just as likely to take (and make) pull-up 12-footers against the Knicks than to take the ball to the basket.

In the halfcourt, even if he’s had a subpar year shooting the ball, few players can heat up as quickly as Terry can (4-6 3FG).

Beaubois is extremely inexperienced, and it shows when he tries to run an offense—5 AST, 5 TO—but he consistently beat his man off the dribble and finished an electric over-the-head, backwards layup after getting mauled at the rim—count it, and the foul. When Jason Kidd calls it quits, Beaubois will step in as Dallas’ starter of the future, no question about it.

Barea is quick turning the corner on screen/rolls and makes smart decisions—5-9 FG, 4 AST, 0 TO, 11 PTS.

Howard gave the bench serious firepower—3-6 FG, 1-2 3FG, 2 AST, 7 PTS.

Dirk Nowitzki made five of his six jumpers in the third quarter.

Dallas’ screen/roll game was lethal, and the Knicks never made the right adjustments.

Dallas’ subs continued to run their offense for much of the fourth quarter, meaning that Dallas’ backups are well versed on what the team is trying to accomplish.

All in all, a thorough performance lead to a thorough drubbing.

However, despite the lopsided score, it was hardly a perfect game.

Nowitzki was surprisingly passive to open the game and wasn’t really involved. In the first half, three times he posted on the right box and missed turnaround fadeaways, he missed two open jumpers, and his only make was after a drive, pump, and reload which gained him time to sink a jumper.

While he was much more assertive after the intermission, the Knicks had all but mailed in the game.

Defensively, Dirk’s interior help was solid, but his contests on Jared Jeffries were weak. Throughout the opening half, Dirk’s hands were down or he was late to cover Jeffries, leading to JJ scoring 12 first quarter points. Dirk also allowed Gallinari to blow by him for a layup and ate Jonathan Bender’s dust on a layup.

Perhaps it was in Rick Carlisle’s gameplan to not challenge Jeffries too hard, but Dirk’s passivity won’t fly against the other multitalented power forwards he’ll face in the Western Conference.

The Mavs gave up 22 offensive rebounds to the Knicks, not a disastrous total with the number of the Knicks’ long misses.

The Mavs were late on numerous 20-footers by the Knicks’ big men.

The Mavs defense was rarely severely tested because the Knicks rarely used the weak-side of the court with purpose.

Howard and Terry were posted for profit.

All in all, though, it was a dominant performance by a talented team upset with itself after a disappointing loss to Philadelphia.

Faced with playing a final game of an up-and-down road trip without two starters, in New York City, and at noon, the Mavericks displayed total focus on playing a crisp basketball game and beating the Knicks.

The Mavs are certainly good enough to harbor dreams of winning the season’s final game. Whether they’re good enough to actually make it happen will be a question for the second half of the season.