After Thursday’s 109-101 loss to the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center, the Dallas Mavericks have gone 23 consecutive games without allowing any opponent to shoot at least 50 percent from the field against them.
And that’s currently the longest such streak in the entire NBA.
Not bad for a team that, in recent years, treated defense like it was a foreign aspect of the game. So how did the sudden change occur?
“Defensively, we’re connected,” coach Jason Kidd said. “The communication is high, they’re executing the game plan.
“Executing the adjustments on the fly during the game also shows a lot of maturity for this group. But I think they also believe that they can play defense. Defense is something that we’ve always talked about since day one, that we want this group to play defense, and they are. We’ve asked them to play defense and they’ve shown that they can play defense, and that’s a big thing.”
It’s a big thing because lack of playing solid defensively is part of the reason the Mavs failed to get past the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the past two season’s playoffs.
But entering Thursday’s game, the Mavs were second in the NBA in fewest points allowed at 102.6 points per game. When asked what’s his team’s ceiling on the defensive end of the floor, Kidd said:
“I don’t know. We haven’t gotten there yet. You look at (Wednesday’s game against) Toronto, and they crash the boards. And we gave up 16 offensive rebounds, which, normally you would say we’re going to lose that game.”
But that wasn’t the case, as the Mavs defeated Toronto, 102-98. However, the Mavs faltered in the fourth quarter Thursday and lost to the well-rested Suns – they last played Monday before Thursday’s game — who shot 45.3 percent from the field but only 22.2 percent from three-point land.
Still, that hasn’t affected the Mavs’ confidence.
“This group hasn’t played but maybe 16 games together, 17 games together,” Kidd said. “If we can stay healthy at the end of April, we’ll hopefully have enough data to see if this team can do something special in the playoffs.”
DONCIC ADAPTING TO DIFFERENT DEFENSES: Coach Jason Kidd said the reason Luka Doncic is able to beat a variety of defenses is because he’s a basketball savant.
“His IQ — he pays attention,” Kidd said. “And I think also at a young age he’s seen a lot of different defenses. He saw the box and one last night (against Toronto). He’s going to see the trap where they make him give up the ball, and then I think his trust level is extremely high with his teammates.
“You can see that because if he wanted to he can try to beat the double-team every time. That just puts a lot of stress on him. He’s
just making the game simple and fun, and that’s why you give him a lot of credit because he has the talent to beat the double-team, but to keep things simple and to give us a little bit more gas on the defensive end, just make the simple play, and he does that.”
Kidd also likes the way Doncic is getting his teammates involved. The way Kidd sees it, that part of Doncic’s development makes it fun for everyone on the team.
“You look at Michael Jordan, when he was young he tried to beat the Detroit Pistons by himself,” Kidd said. “He couldn’t do it. He got help, he got a running mate (in Scottie Pippen). It made the game easy and it made it simple.
“When the great ones make it simple and easy, it becomes fun and it becomes an enjoyable atmosphere on both ends — defense and offense – and you can see that with Luka.”
That’s not all Kidd has seen with Doncic. After the four-year veteran picked up three blocks in Monday’s 104-100 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kidd said:
“He’ll let you know defensively when he has three blocks, he believes he should be on the first-team all-defensive team,” Kidd said. “And that’s fun because he has that Magic Johnson, Giannis (Antetokounmpo) fun, understanding that might not be his strength, but he’s giving everything he can on the defensive side that he knows that can help this team win.”
LEARNING FROM THE ROUGH PATCHES: The Mavs have learned from one of the rough patches of the season.
Since dropping four of six games and seeing their record dip to 15-17 after a Christmas Day loss at Utah, the Mavs have won 11 of 14 games. And there were plenty lessons learned in the early season struggles that were dotted with injuries and health and safety protocol issues.
“I don’t think we ever felt like we were never going to win again,” coach Jason Kidd said. “It’s just a matter of when things are going to connect, and when our trust level will be at a high, and it’s always been tested. That group in that locker room has been together and they’ve been tested.
“So, I think it’s just a matter of staying together, staying positive, having fun, which is hard to do if you’re losing. Finding the positives and working on those, but also being honest with one another, and I think that’s what we’ve done since day one is just being honest.”
And that’s not the only barometer Kidd uses. He’s been there and done that as a player and coach, so he knows a thing or two about overcoming a string of losses.
“There’s no perfect season,” Kidd said. “This is always a character check.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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