<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Mavericks have outrebounded nine of their last 10 opponents. They won eight of those games. Coincidence? Avery Johnson doesn't think so. And neither do his players. Unlike a lot of statistics that can be twisted to work for or against you, rebounding usually is a trusty reflection of how physical, active and aggressive a team is. The Mavs have won the rebounding game 16 times, lost it seven times and tied with their opponent once ? remarkably close to their 18-6 record. Clearly, this is not a fluke. "Definitely not," Keith Van Horn said Monday. "I think it kind of shows a sign of how aggressive a team is. In the rebounding game, usually the more aggressive team wins that battle. And we've been an aggressive team out there lately. Collectively, we all know how important it is." Their attention to rebounding has paid off with an average of four more caroms per game than their opponent, putting them with the league's elite in rebounding. Their board work also has the Mavericks thinking that they have developed a tougher nature. Being physical has always been a shortcoming, said the only player who has been around long enough to remember when they were one of the softest teams in the league. "Since I got here, the first couple years, that was always one of our weaknesses," Dirk Nowitzki said. "We were a good shooting team, a good running team, but teams out-physicaled us in the paint. Rebounding is a big part of your defense. You have to control your own glass if you want ultimately win it all." And the Mavericks clearly think they have a realistic chance of doing that this season. Their hot start, combined with the fact that they have yet to have a healthy roster, has them thinking big. "We got all the ingredients that a good team needs," Nowitzki said. "Like I said a couple weeks back, we've seen pretty much every team now, and I don't think there's one team we have to be scared of. San Antonio looks good. Detroit looks good. Other than that, we're right there with everybody else. And we even beat those two teams already. "So I think we all sense we have a chance to go all the way." </div> Source
Well they say the teams take the personality of their coach and in this case they are. Avery was never really a physical player but he was one fiesty player and had a very fiesty attitude and the Mavs getting more physical is just an indication that they are buying into their coach...
