Pistons face Mavericks’ sizzling offense
By J.M. Poulard
Essentials
- Teams: Dallas Mavericks (18-8) at Detroit Pistons (5-20)
- Date: December 17
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Television: FSD
Get in the Game
After a humbling 22-point rout against the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, the Detroit Pistons will try to bounce back tonight when they host the Dallas Mavericks.
It will be an incredibly tough task given that Dallas’ league-leading offense gives teams fits. What makes the Mavericks so tough to defend? They simply attack you in every way imaginable.
Are they a pick-and-roll team? Sort of but not really.
How about pick-and-pop? Getting warmer and colder at the same time.
Surely they must be a low-post squad then right? Meh.
What about drive and kick? Now we’re getting somewhere. The truth is the Mavs utilize all of those things, and defenses simply can’t hone in on any one particular aspect of the Dallas offense.
Head coach Rick Carlisle has turned the Mavericks into a mirror image of its divisional rival—the San Antonio Spurs. No, the Mavs don’t operate a motion offense with numerous reads like the Spurs, but it’s pretty damn close.
Monta Ellis and company will run pick-and-rolls, pick-and-pops and hand offs, and then figure out how to best attack the opposition. Going underneath screens yields an uncontested jumper or worse yet a head of steam that gets you to the rim.
A soft hedge allows Tyson Chandler to roll down the lane for an uncontested dunk. A soft hedge with a weak side defender rotating to pick up Chandler leads to a Dirk Nowitzki jumper because he’s camped on the weak side precisely to discourage the defender from jumping out at Chandler.
As a result, there aren’t many good options as it pertains to limiting the effectiveness of Dallas’ pick-and-rolls. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that a stout defense can disrupt it with a hard hedge or by switching; this is where the fun really begins.
The Mavericks start their offense real early in the shot clock precisely to take advantage of whatever matchups open up after their first action. From there, they will drive the ball to the hoop and kick it back out to shooters. Then again, the Mavs might not want that shot. Thus, the player on the perimeter will start things all over again and run either a pick-and-pop or pick-and-roll to force more defensive rotations.
Great defenses expertly clog the holes after a first and second wave of rotations, but the third one can get tricky. What’s more, teams can manage this so long as they remain within the confines of their defensive principles.
Dallas forces teams to rethink its philosophies. For instance, if the guard has switched over to the Chandler, and he now runs another pick-and-roll with a different teammate, what’s the defender to do there?
The other possibility is for Chandler to park down low on the block with the guard defending him, while the ball-handler then runs a pick-and-pop with Nowitzki. The guard who has switched onto Chandler must now figure out whether to rotate to Dirk (and leave Chandler all alone) or give up the open look and perhaps still lose the battle on the boards if Nowitzki misses because Chandler is taller, stronger and in perfect position for an offensive rebound.
Sequences like these are the reason why Dallas has put up points on every team in the league. The Mavericks dropped 132 points in a double overtime road win against the Chicago Bulls (108 in regulation time), 105 points in a victory at the Washington Wizards and 105 points on the Memphis Grizzlies in a loss earlier this season.
It’s worth noting, those three teams boast top-10 defenses. What does it all mean for the Pistons tonight?
They should get ready for a track meet.
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