Dallas’ Revival Plan: The Key to Turning Season Around
The Dallas Mavericks hold a 5-5 record after ten games, good for the 11 seed in the Western Conference. Expectations were high coming into the season, but the team still presents as one that is working out various kinks in an effort to find itself. The chemistry that was familiar during last year’s run to the NBA Finals has yet to develop in the early going, as the team works in new faces and works around injuries to key players P.J. Washington and Derek Lively II.
The Mavericks have endured frustrating losses in back-to-back close games by a total of three points. Those two games against the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets were obviously very winnable, as was their second game of the season, also against Phoenix. Two primary factors in their losses are slow starts and the frequency at which they give up offensive rebounds (especially at critical moments). While these two factors are apparent when watching the games, there is another factor I believe to be the true root of the team’s struggles: the lack of defending the three.
On the surface, the Mavericks have a very respectable three-point defense. For the season, they give up 34.2% on threes. The league average to this point is 37.1%. Yet watching the games, it feels like the Mavs get lit up from beyond the arc far too often. So what is the explanation? A further analysis shows:
1. They are getting beat badly on threes by unusual suspects in eight of ten games.
2. They are getting beat badly on threes by usual suspects in those same games.
3. They have salvaged their overall numbers by way of two exceptional defensive performances.
