On the night when the greatest offensive force in franchise history had his jersey retired, the new generation of Mavericks celebrated the moment with a touch of irony in the form of a superior defensive showing.
The Mavericks partied with Dirk Nowitzki as his No. 41 now will hang in the American Airlines Center rafters, but not until they did a defensive number on the team with the best record in the NBA.
There were no step-back jump shots. But lots of sweat-equity on the defensive end, which Nowitzki could surely appreciate.
The Mavericks shut down one of the league’s best offensive outfits and arguably the MVP frontrunner, Steph Curry with gritty defense that was the foundation for a 99-82 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
The Mavericks held Curry to 14 points. He was 1-of-9 from 3-point land and 5-of-24 overall. The Warriors, who came in with the NBA’s top defensive rating, could do nothing to combat the Mavericks’ hard-working defense.
It was the fifth consecutive opponent that the Mavericks have kept below 100 points. The 82 points was Golden State’s lowest output of the season after averaging 111.3 points coming into the game.
And, for their efforts, the Mavericks now have a four-game winning streak for the first time this season. They also crept to 20-18, the first time since Dec. 1 (11-9) that they’ve been two games above .500.
“The last couple games, I think it’s four or five in a row, we held opponents under 100 points,” said Luka Dončić, who had 26 points. “That’s pretty amazing. But today, it was just unbelievable the way we played defense, everybody together.”
The Mavericks leaned hard on Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson, who spent the bulk of the time guarding Curry.
It was Finney-Smith who had the game’s biggest highlight, coming from behind the play to swat a potential slam-dunk by Draymond Green late in the first half.
“We felt like our defense did a great job tonight and gave us a chance to win,” coach Jason Kidd said. “The guys played hard. You know the Warriors are going to score. You know Steph is going to make 3s.”
Well, one 3, as it turned out.
The Mavericks survived a shaky third quarter and pulled away to an 89-75 lead with 4 minutes to go. They kept the defensive clamps in place and when Curry missed a 3-pointer with under 3 minutes to go and the lead down to 89-80, the Mavericks could exhale.
They also survived Dončić tweaking his right ankle. He also had a left hamstring problem early in the game, but brushed off both.
“I twisted it,” he said of the ankle, “but it’s not the bad one, so I guess it’ll be OK.”
The Warriors fell to 29-8 and coach Steve Kerr gave the credit to the Mavericks.
“They switched a lot and were very physical with everybody,” he said. “I thought they were really good defensively – just a step ahead of us. We weren’t ourselves, so give them credit.
“Everyone is throwing everything at him (Curry), their best defenders. I thought he pressed a little bit. He was trying hard to get out of it.”
While a grinding defensive game wasn’t exactly anything that Nowitzki could relate to, it was a feelgood victory that set up the jersey retirement ceremony.
Interestingly, Dončić had eight assists and seven rebounds, which when added to his points totaled up to 41 – Nowitzki’s number that was being retired.
Also of note is the fact that the Warriors are the sort of team that is proof that gifted offensive players can also be part of a strong defensive team.
“For 20 years, the Warriors had been all small-ball, scored a ton of points and had not really been very good defensively,” Kerr said. “I think there was sort of a cultural shift about a decade ago that reflected in a lot of the personnel decisions.
“And then, I think once you have that mentality and some defensive anchors, now it’s much easier to get some of the other players to buy in. And when you go deep in the playoffs, you realize that if you can’t make stops, you can’t win. It’s as simple as that.”
That’s something the Mavericks are trying to learn as they go.
Clearly they have been taking good notes from Kidd as he tries to instill that defense-first mentality.
Rule change coming? Golden State coach Steve Kerr is taking over for Gregg Popovich as coach of the U.S. national team and Kerr is a big proponent of the NBA adopting at least one rule that international basketball has.
In the NBA, teams are not penalized for taking an intentional foul when the opponent has a numbers advantage on a fast break.
In FIBA play, that’s a technical foul on the offending team.
In the NBA, often, it is simply a foul with the offensive team getting the ball on the sideline and losing what would very likely be an easy basket or trip to the free throw line.
“I know the league is looking at it,” Kerr said before Wednesday’s game. “My guess is there will be some form of change in that rule. Every night in our games, you see one fast break after another just blown up by some guy grabbing someone’s arm.
“It’s terrible for the game, terrible for the fans. You’re penalizing the team that just made a good defensive play. So I love that rule in FIBA. I don’t know exactly how the NBA would implement a change. But I do know that they are very serious about doing something.”
Kerr said his team is just as guilty as everybody else at taking the foul rather than giving up a fast break. “It’s a smart play,” he said.
Twitter: @ESefko
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