Dallas Mavericks: This Defense Is Atrocious
Last week, I gave praise to the Dallas Mavericks’ offense. I claimed that it could not be stopped by any man, woman or child alive.
Then they decided to only score 92 points against a banged-up Houston Rockets team, and then completely played terribly against the even-more-banged-up Indiana Pacers at home on Monday night.
And the reason why Dallas lost to the Pacers 111-100 on Monday night was because of this atrocious defense that has been as glaring of a problem as Chandler Parsons‘ shot not going in.
Think about this before continuing reading: The Pacers did not have Roy Hibbert, David West, Paul George or George Hill in this game. Take George out of the equation, and you’re left with Hibbert, West and Hill (the three main players on this Indiana team).
Dallas lost to a team that had Luis Scola and former Maverick legend Ian Mahinmi starting. Donald Sloan could not miss a shot. Some person named Damjan Rudez was making wide-open 3-pointers.
I’m sure Damjan Rudez is a nice person, and has a wonderful family. But who in the world is he, and why are the Mavericks leaving him wide open to make two 3-pointers?
This game had to be a wake-up call for Dallas in terms of its defensive performance. It’s been toxic to watch all season long, but what happened on Monday calls for some serious adjustments. A team like Indiana, without three starters, should not be playing that well offensively.
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A banged-up team like the Pacers should not be shooting 13-of-25 from 3-point range, nor close to 50 percent from the floor.
Tyson Chandler can’t do everything on defense. He can’t guard perimeter players all the time, because he’s having just as difficult time defending the post because he’s getting no help on defensive rebounds.
The Pacers even outrebounded the Mavericks 44-37. That’s another discussion for another day.
But the Mavericks have just been as big of a joke defensively as can be. Last year, they were terrible. Jose Calderon and Samuel Dalembert could not play defense, hence why Dallas traded them for Chandler, who can play defense.
But if he is the only one playing defense while the other four are having a difficult time keeping their man in front of them, what in the world is the point?
Nitpicking something like a player’s performance after 15 games in an NBA season isn’t much of a problem. That’s why I’m not so much worried about a guy like Parsons and his struggles.
But defense is something that takes shape either after the first game, or it will take all season before something can be done about it. That 2011 team that won a championship had players that could play defense and do it consistently.
Besides Tyson Chandler and Brandan Wright, and maybe Al-Farouq Aminu, who else can play defense on the team? Especially perimeter defense.
Maybe this is a sign that Dallas needs to go pick up a guy who can play perimeter defense and do it well. If this is the product for the rest of the season, this will be the Mavericks’ downfall. This defensive performance against the Pacers better serve as a wake-up call for this team with all the talent in the world.
December doesn’t get any easier for the Mavs. After they play the New York Knicks on Wednesday, Dallas travels to Toronto and take on the best team in the Eastern Conference at this very moment in the Air Canada Centre.
Then against teams like Chicago, Memphis, Golden State, New Orleans and maybe (just maybe) a healthy Oklahoma City team.
Dallas needs to tighten up these defensive problems. That’s the main reason why the Mavericks have lost two games in a row, and look about as vulnerable as can be.