By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
Despite the Mavs’ hang-loose rep, their 50th win of the season on Thursday came as the result of structure. Or, at least, creativity within structure.
JAZZ-MAVS BOX
Yes, it will shock the casual fan to learn that Dallas 117, Utah 94 at American Airlines Center was the result not just of another brilliant shooting night (53 percent), not just more offensive explosion from the likes of Dirk Nowitzki (27 points on a ridiculously efficient 10 shots), and not just the production of Sixth Man of the Year candidate Antawn Jamison (25 points and nine rebounds, but was rather a matter of. … execution.
For the fourth straight season, Dallas is a 50-win franchise. And this year, the 35-5 home record tops the NBA. So racking up another win – the sixth straight for a team that is now averaging 122 per during this win streak – is not news.
But what if we told you that Dallas’ offense here was a tightly structured machine, and that Dallas’ defense may have added a potentially effective new wrinkle?
Offense first:
Pick-and-rolls. Pick-and-pops. Running-the-baseline screens. A continuous loop of cutters coming off the center’s hip. Time and time and time again, the Mavs passed up one-on-one opportunities against the Jazz and instead waited, patiently, for receivers to come off screens.
The patience is a good sign. The unselfishness is a good sign. The best sign of all, though, is an apparent understanding of how the Mavs – in need of some more halfcourt weaponry with the playoff approaching – recognize that the screen game is their silver bullet.
“It’s something Dirk and Steve and some of the other guys have always been good at,’’ says Mavs assistant coach Donnie Nelson, “and it’s something that can give opponents trouble.’’
Pick-and-rolls force defenders to make choices, and often allow for Mavs mismatches. (You know it’s working when 6-6 Michael Finley finds himself at the arc being checked by 7-foot CBA’er Mikki Moore.) The pick-and-pop – a Nowitzki specialty – throws a changeup at the defense, with the screener not cutting, but instead moving to an open spot to receive the potential assist. (You know it’s working when Nowitzki takes just those 10 shots but scores 27 in part because he branched off from the pick-and-rolls to drive enough to get 11 free throws.)
Running-the-baseline screens is the Jamison specialty; it frees him not only as a receiver but as a garbage collector. On Thursday he was 8-of-12, keeping his shooting percentage during this six-game run near the astounding 73-percent mark.
And most maddening of all for a defense: all those cutters. Shawn Bradley finds a spot, maybe at the elbow. And then around the Bradley May Pole come assorted Mavs, around and around and around, Bradley absorbing the punishment as defenders clonk into him, his teammates turning the corner with hands in the ready-to-receive position, knowing that sometime during the 24 seconds, one of them will spring free.
What does Utah coach Jerry Sloan think of Dallas’ screen-happy offensive approach?
Says Sloan: “They were great shooting the ball out on the perimeter, and I thought the set some terrific screens. They manhandled us all the way around.’’
Now to that defensive thing:
Holding Utah to under 100 ain’t the thing; it is a miracle that coach Sloan has them in playoff contention given the fact that arguably their second most productive player, Raja Bell, is a Mavs’ castoff.
Still, coach Don Nelson and staff took the wraps off a compelling zone defense idea. In what looked like a 2-1-2 zone, Bradley manned the middle. Nowitzki and Josh Howard handled the wings. And Finley and Marquis Daniels were up top. That’s a loooong bunch of Mavs, 7-6 in the middle, 7-0 and 6-8 on the wings and 6-6 twice at the guards. Listen to Sloan again: “They were alive. They were good defensively.’’
Dallas used that “alive’’ alignment a bunch in the third quarter, and it was a factor in maintaining a lead that once bulged to 27. Finley (who bruised his ribs in the early going but played through it) is far more suited in that spot than elsewhere. Howard, Daniels and Bradley are ideal for it. So if Nowitzki is as active in the future as he was on this night, it’s got a decent look to it.
As do the 50-win Mavs.