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It took 14 games for the substance to match the style. The Luka Doncic Show had been pretty entertaining right from the start in Phoenix a month ago. But the Mavericks themselves had to be regarded as a work in progress with a defense that was setting league records, especially in allowing opponents to fire away from long range.
Just in time — three days before the arrival of the perennial NBA champs from Golden State to be precise — it all came together in a crazy 118-68 destruction of the Utah Jazz, a team that already had defeated Dallas twice in this young season. The Mavericks held the visitors to 31 percent shooting from the field and 17 percent from the three-point line in a game that prompted head coach Rick Carlisle to practically gush.
“I can’t remember a better defensive performance from any Mavericks team in the last 11 years,” he said. Yep, pretty gushy for Rick. Then he got back to noting that Utah had “obliterated” Dallas twice and that his team wasn’t that good and the Jazz weren’t that bad and that it’s all a long, long grind which, of course it is.
But at 6-8 now, after a frustrating 2-7 start, who exactly are these Mavs? And at what level are they competitors in the overloaded Western Conference?
Let’s start with the basics. They have escaped from the cellar in three-point shooting defense, a spot one simply cannot inhabit if it hopes to be worth anything these days in the NBA. Five teams (Dallas included) are taking 40 percent of their shots from three-point range. The league average is in the mid-30’s. If you can’t play defense out at the stripe, you have no chance, and for the first four games of the season, Dallas opponents were hitting half their shots from distance.
That has settled down with a week of defensive excellence so at least the Mavs have three teams below them in the three-point defensive rankings.
“Defense is the starting point for getting things going consistently,” Carlisle said. And when your team is built around 20-year-old Dennis Smith Jr. and the 19-year-old Doncic, the challenge is compounded.
“You’ve got to accelerate their development defensively. Good young players are always going to be tested,” Carlisle said. “Teams will go at them two times in a row, see what they can do, try to get them in foul trouble. I’ve had a lot of conversations with Dennis the last two years and with Luka this year.”
Carlisle is less inclined to gush about Doncic these days, partly because there has been so much of that already and because he has a team to coach, not one player to develop. So when you mention that his early stats are up there with some of the best, Carlisle keeps whatever enthusiasm the Slovenian has sparked under control.
“I expected him to be very good,” Carlisle said. “He’s been as good or better than expected.”
There are all kinds of crazy numbers out there but Doncic’s 30-point, 8-rebound- 4-assist night in San Antonio placed him alongside Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Maurice Stokes (look him up) in terms of players doing magical things in the first seven games of their career.
Beyond the numbers, Doncic delivers the entertainment, already having patented the “put the ball behind the big man’s back but don’t pass it” move he executed on Utah’s Rudy Gobert for an easy bucket Wednesday night.
There’s plenty to get excited about it, nothing to be giddy about. The Mavericks are 13th in the Western Conference. Memphis is back, Sacramento and the LA Clippers are better than expected and, yes, the Lakers’ return to the playoffs is a given. An early six-game losing streak will take a month to overcome in terms of Dallas positioning itself to have anyone even thinking about the No. 8 seed — once dreaded around here but now coveted after seasons of 33-49 and 24-58.
Carlisle came here in 2008 knowing that 50 wins weren’t a given but were certainly the expectation with Dirk Nowitzki in his prime. Dirk wears nice suits on the bench this year (at least until further notice) and Doncic, fun as he can be to watch, is three years away from anything approaching prime.
It’s a different world as the Mavericks dig towards the .500 level with a more determined defensive approach.
“I like the roster and I love the guys,” Carlisle said. “I feel like every day coming in, you’ve got to be in an adaptive mode. And we’re showing signs. We’ve got to stay on it.”
After holding Utah to 68 points, no one around here is daring Golden State to try to score 70 on this team. Still, it’s a much better show than what we have seen the last two years, and we’re learning that it’s not simply flash.
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