Mavs rely on defense to throw Griz off strideBy Don WadeContactApril 27, 2006DALLAS -- The Dallas Mavericks have not tried to hide their agenda:They're on the road to the NBA Finals.So far, they have treated their first-round playoff series with the Grizzlies as a smooth stretch of roadway that will run out after Game 4.In Wednesday night's 94-79 Victory in Game 2, the Mavericks did what they said they wanted to do after a 10-point win in Game 1:Improve their play overall, but especially their defense.Before this season, NBA Coach of the Year Avery Johnson's first full year as the team's coach, this shoot-first and play-defense-later basketball team had been derided as the "Alice Mavericks."That changed under Johnson. The Mavericks' opponents averaged 93.1 points per game this season, which made Dallas the seventh-best defensive team in the league."We're not soft anymore," said All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who scored a game-high 31 points Wednesday night."Guys are buying into Avery's system," said forward Josh Howard. "We're contesting a lot of shots and making sure they get just one shot and we get the rebound."After allowing the Grizzlies to shoot more than 53 percent from the floor in Sunday night's game, the Mavs tightened the defensive screws and held Memphis to 44.9 percent shooting from the floor in Game 2. The Grizzlies also committed 20 turnovers, after making 19 in Game 1."They play hard and they play together, and that's the key on defense," said the Grizzlies' Shane Battier, who made four of the team's turnovers. "They have trust in their shot-blockers behind them."The Mavericks used their defense to completely shut the Grizzlies down in the last 6:46 of the second quarter. Down just three points after Chucky Atkins hit a runner, the Mavericks held the Grizzlies without a field goal the rest of the quarter and the Grizzlies made seven of their 10 turnovers in the quarter in the last four minutes.Memphis lost the ball just about every way possible, including when Pau Gasol and Mike Miller collided while trying to rebound a Mavericks free throw and the ball bounced out of bounds.Gasol, who scored 24 points in the first game after being held without a field goal in the first half, scored 10 points in the first quarter in Game 2. But then he all but disappeared as he finished with 16 points.This time, the Mavs shut him out in the second quarter and held the 7-foot Spaniard to two points in the third, four in the fourth."We just wanted to clamp down, and we did a great job on Pau," Howard said.No one else was able to take up the slack. Miller, who's second on the team in scoring, got five of his nine points from the free-throw line and missed all 3-pointers he attempted."We tried to pressure up (Miller and Gasol)," said Dallas' Jerry Stackhouse. "We wanted to make them put the ball on the floor and do something they don't want to have to do, instead of getting comfortable."Said Nowitzki: "We played some good defense with the 79 points; if we do that, we'll always be in position to win a game."Which isn't to suggest the Mavericks are satisfied.They're not."We haven't played our best defense yet," said Howard. "It's coming ... we're gonna get there."-- Don Wade: 529-2358
