DALLAS, TEXAS — The month of February has been beneficial and the Mavericks have a record of 5-2 and have registered a 4 game winning streak which is their second winning streak of 4 games this season. A winning streak is great and there is much to be celebrated, but the Mavericks didn’t take the easy road to get to this point, leaving questions/concerns as the season continues.
The biggest question of them all is…. How long can the Mavericks sustain this level of success without playing better on defense?
Coach Carlisle described their win against the Pelicans on Friday as an exciting game for ESPN viewers, but a “pillow fight” on the defensive end of the floor.
If you observe the finer details of the games you will notice that most of the Mavericks wins in February have been close because of how poorly they’ve played on defense. In the three games prior to the Mavericks 13 point victory over the Pelicans, Dallas’s largest margin of victory was by 5 points and that was against one of the worst teams record wise in the league.
In February, Maverick opponents scored 125 points on average making them one of the lower rated teams defensively in the league. Tonight, Dallas can not afford to get into a shootout with one of the streakier teams in the league, and must find their swagger on defense if they want to continue their winning streak.
13 out of the last 14 games between the Mavericks and Trailblazers have been decided by single digits including the last nine games, which speaks to how close these teams play against each other. Dallas has a record of 7-7 against over that span but have a winning record in their last nine games with a record 5-4 and the teams split the last two season series 2-2. In their last meeting inside the bubble Damian Lillard scored 61 points to help his squad beat the Mavericks 134-131. Kristaps Porzingis led the Mavericks scoring 36 points converting on 12 of his 17 attempts from the field.
This is a pivotal point for Dallas this deep into the season. A win tonight would solidify their second place position in the Southwest, get them back to .500, extend their winning streak, and defeating a solid team like Portland would only add more fuel to the fire, but the first spark must be Dallas’s efforts on the defensive end.
