Good defense, rumor has it, wins championships, or at the very least gives a team the chance to win more games than it loses.
The concept is so basic, though not so simple, that no player needs to be reminded that, well, it’s true.
Yet, the Dallas Mavericks opened the season unable to guard just about any team. The fewest points an opponent scored during the Mavs’ first nine games was 109.
They allowed 136 in their home opener, including 46 in the first quarter, and somehow won. But that was one of only two wins during a 2-7 start to the season.
Entering Wednesday, though, the Mavs were winners of three of their past four games, with defense leading them to their best stretch of the season just in time for the offense-capable Utah Jazz.
The solution to the Mavs’ defensive woes? Committing themselves to the basics of good defense.
Their performance Wednesday was about as good as it gets, as they held the Jazz to only 22 second-half points and held a third straight opponent below 100 points in a 118-68 rout.
“There were a lot of games where we didn’t play good defense at all,” forward Maxi Kleber said. “We talked about it, and in practice it was our main focus. We expected it to get better.
“It was the basics. We were talking so much about our coverages that we slowed down on our basics. It starts with picking up the ball; having the right stance; playing one-on-one defense; when the shot goes up, don’t watch the ball but box out your man; and stuff like that.”
The Mavs set a franchise record for fewest points in a half and held the Jazz to only 10 fourth-quarter points for their best defense this season. That came after a solid first half in which the Jazz scored only 46 points.
A game after collecting a season-high 11 steals, the Mavs nabbed 12.
At one point spanning the second and third quarters, the Jazz went 4:19 without scoring.
“We’ve just improved, improved defensively,” coach Rick Carlisle said.
But how does a group of professional basketball players, the veterans to the rookies, lose track of the basics? Well, the Mavs have two new starters this season, one a rookie, and were without another starter early on in the season.
Good defense requires chemistry, rhythm and communication. In the Mavs’ past four wins, they held their foes to below 42 percent shooting.
“You have to have the will,” Kleber said.
Carlisle seems intent on instilling will into the Mavs. The coach called for a timeout Wednesday night after Utah took a 4-2 lead 61 seconds into the game. He also took an early timeout Monday in the win at Chicago.
The NBA is changing, Carlisle has said this season. It’s a different era with players who can run and shoot and with teams that don’t stop running on offense. What defines good defense might be changing.
But good defense is still built on the basics Kleber said the Mavs had forgotten, and the high-powered offense the Mavs are capable of having is directly linked to their ability to play good defense.
“Guys are working hard, they’re talking, communicating better all the time,” Carlisle said. “We’ve made it a major priority in practices and shoot-arounds. We’ve just got to continue it.
“There’s an unmistakable connection between offense and defense and defense and offense, but I always believe the greater connection is between how you defend and how that can positively affect your offense. So, you’ve got to think defense first.”
The offense was pretty good, too, as the Mavs shot 58.4 percent and all 13 players scored. Harrison Barnes scored a team-high 19 points and was one of five players to reach double-figures.
The lone negative in the game was that Wesley Matthews aggravated his left hamstring in the third quarter and did not return.
But with that kind of defense, the Mavs were just fine without him.
“I can’t remember a better defensive performance by any Mavericks team in 11 years,” Carlisle said.