The Dallas Mavericks have long been a team associated with incredible offensive firepower and mediocre to poor defense. However, this is proving to be a thing of the past, as the Mavs are fast becoming one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
The Mavs are now the league’s #1 team in opponent field goal percentage, holding other teams to 41.4% shooting from the floor. Over the last 10 games, they’ve held the opposing team to an average of 40.2% in field goal shooting.
They are top 6 in nearly every other defensive category as well, including points allowed (tied for #5) and turnovers forced (#6).
Dallas’ new brand of defense was again on display last night in their come-from-behind-win against the Philadelphia 76ers. In the second half of last night’s game, the Mavs held the 76ers to 24 points in the final two quarters–the same number of points that Dirk Nowitzki scored himself in that same time frame. In the third quarter, Dallas gave up only 8 point...
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