By Lance Rinker
The Dallas Mavericks spent the past week struggling in various aspects of the game, but solid coaching, timely shooting and rebounding helped guide the team to three, out of a possible four, wins.
Those three victories by the Mavericks displayed a certain level of toughness, mental and physical, the team possesses. Something we have not had the privilege of seeing much as they have generally used their offensive might to thump opponents in the head.
Against the Philadelphia 76ers, who the Mavericks walloped by 53 points on Nov. 13, Dirk Nowitzki was given the night off after struggling for much of the previous week. Nowitzki was just 4-for-27 from three-point range and shooting barely 39 percent over the previous four games. The Mavericks beat the 76ers, who are now 0-16 on the season, 110-103 but were only up by four heading into the fourth quarter.
The 3-1 mark over the previous week, and 8-2 record over the last 10 games, is great but it is nothing compared to what was accomplished against a formidable Toronto Raptors team on Friday night.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle entered Friday’s game needing one win to become the third coach in team history with 300 victories. The Raptors entered that contest tied for the best record in the NBA at the time and ended up with just their second home loss of the season.
The Mavs found themselves in a 10-point hole early but managed to rally and beat the Raptors 106-102 in Toronto.
Carlisle earned his 300th win as coach of the Mavericks and joined Donnie Nelson and Dick Motta in that exclusive fraternity. Seemingly par for the course for Carlisle, after becoming just the third coach in team history to reach 300 victories, he laid all of the praise on his players for beginning the four-game road trip with a character-building win.
“This is an important win for us,” Carlisle said after the game. “You know, we’ve had some struggles in recent games. And this was hard-fought, so I give our guys a lot of credit.”
Of the nine coached in franchise history, Carlisle is third in victories and is the lone coach to bring home an NBA Championship. Carlisle will have a legitimate opportunity to surpass Nelson as the winningest coach in franchise history with a 52-win season.
*Statistics courtesy of nba-reference.com and current through 11/30/2014
|
Regular Season |
Playoffs |
|||||||||||||||
|
Rk |
Coach |
From |
To |
Yrs |
G |
W ▾ |
L |
W/L% |
W > .500 |
Plyfs |
G |
W |
L |
W/L% |
Conf |
Champ |
|
1 |
Don Nelson |
1998 |
2005 |
8 |
590 |
339 |
251 |
.575 |
44.0 |
4 |
43 |
19 |
24 |
.442 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
Dick Motta |
1981 |
1996 |
9 |
738 |
329 |
409 |
.446 |
-40.0 |
4 |
28 |
11 |
17 |
.393 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
Rick Carlisle |
2009 |
2015 |
7 |
494 |
301 |
193 |
.609 |
54.0 |
5 |
48 |
26 |
22 |
.542 |
1 |
1 |
|
4 |
Avery Johnson |
2005 |
2008 |
4 |
264 |
194 |
70 |
.735 |
62.0 |
4 |
47 |
23 |
24 |
.489 |
1 |
0 |
|
5 |
John MacLeod |
1988 |
1990 |
3 |
175 |
96 |
79 |
.549 |
8.5 |
1 |
17 |
10 |
7 |
.588 |
0 |
0 |
|
6 |
Richie Adubato |
1990 |
1993 |
4 |
264 |
94 |
170 |
.356 |
-38.0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
|
7 |
Jim Cleamons |
1997 |
1998 |
2 |
98 |
28 |
70 |
.286 |
-21.0 |
|||||||
|
8 |
Quinn Buckner |
1994 |
1994 |
1 |
82 |
13 |
69 |
.159 |
-28.0 |
|||||||
|
9 |
Gar Heard |
1993 |
1993 |
1 |
53 |
9 |
44 |
.170 |
-17.5 |
|||||||
This upcoming week will feature a well-rested Mavs team, after two straight off-days and three-straight for Dirk, taking on three teams that appear, according to their win-loss record, to be possible playoff contending teams.
The Chicago Bulls will play host to the Mavs Monday night and while all-star point guard Derrick Rose is still battling lingering injuries, the continued emergence of shooting guard Jimmy Butler has helped keep the Bulls very competitive.
Defense is still the Bulls identity as a team but when Butler is paired up with a healthy Rose, this team can put up triple-digit point totals. The one advantage the Mavs will have in this matchup is being better rested and healthier than the Bulls, not to mention the record setting offense.
On Wednesday, the Mavs take on the upstart Milwaukee Bucks who remind me a good bit of the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks are a team that plays stingy defense and moves the ball around very well but struggle to string together back-to-back offensive possessions that end with a bucket. Their inability to do much on the boards will stunt what they can do against the Mavs as well.
The Mavs also take on the Bucks again on Sunday, in Dallas.
The Phoenix Suns will visit the American Airlines Center on Friday and are a very similar team to the Mavs. They are averaging 105.4 points per game, while giving up 103.9 on average and have their moments rebounding the ball. The one area they fall short is ball movement and their inability to defend well should spell disaster for them as that is one facet of the Mavs game done very well.
It would be difficult for the Mavs to look back on this upcoming week going undefeated, especially with two defensively gifted teams in the Bulls and Bucks. I envision another 3-1 week for the Mavs and a continued climb up the standings for Dirk’s team.
Upcoming Schedule
12/2 @Bulls 7:00 pm
12/3 @Bucks 7:00 pm
12/5 vs Suns 7:30 pm
12/7 vs Bucks 6:30 pm
For updates on the Dallas Mavericks and other sports musings, follow Lance on Twitter at @LanceMRinker.
