Defense is Simple

"The schemes we're using aren't very complex. It's just all about hard play."

-Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle

Putting the D back in Dallas

Good article on 'ESPN.com Dallas' about the Mavericks defense leading to a victory over the previously undefeated New Orleans Hornets.

DALLAS -- Is it possible that the Dallas Mavericks actually enjoy playing defense, and even find themselves challenging one another to rise up when games get down and dirty in crunch time?

"I think it would be better to ask the players that question because we identify defense as the No. 1 variable to us being a true contending team," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "If the answer is yes, then we're making some real progress. If the answer is something else, then we've got to take a hard look at where we're at."

"But," Carlisle continued, "I think our guys realize that hard, consistent defense and staying with a system is the most important part of our success and it's the most important part of continuing the success that we're having."

Monday night was another example that the answer just might be a resounding, "Yes." The Mavs trailed the previously unbeaten New Orleans Hornets by 10 points with 7:44 left in the game. From that point, Dallas' defense, which entered the game ranked third in the league in points per possession, allowed eight points on 3-of-16 shooting and turned stops into a 3-point barrage at the other end to pull out a dramatic 98-95 victory.

The fourth quarter was reminiscent of one week ago against Boston. The Celtics seized momentum, led 80-74 with 7:25 to go and then scored seven points the rest of the way.

These aren't Don Nelson's Mavericks.

"Yeah, well, we understand what it takes," point guard Jason Kidd said. 'We've seen, come June, the team that holds that trophy is one of the best defensive teams, so at some point you've got to believe that playing defense will win you a championship. I think everybody's in agreement that we have to play defense. Again, six minutes left in the game, you've got to find a way to get stops."

Against New Orleans, Dallas found a way with a mix of tough man-to-man defense and zone to combat point guard Chris Paul, who was hounded by J.J. Barea and held without a point and just three assists in the fourth quarter.

The Mavs didn't force a turnover in the final quarter, but they frustrated the Hornets into 7-of-23 shooting (30.4 percent), and Dallas commanded the boards 15-7. It led to a free-flow offense and a treasure chest of open 3-pointers that, after a long night of firing long-range blanks, finally produced rainbows.

New Orleans (8-1) scored 19 points in the final 12 minutes, which is nothing unusual for Dallas opponents in the first nine games. The Mavericks (7-2) are stingiest in the fourth quarter, allowing on average of 19.7 points a game. They haven't surrendered more than 24 points in a fourth quarter and Monday notched their fifth sub-20-point final period.

"I love it," Barea said. "And with a guy like Tyson [Chandler], you get a stop and he starts screaming and going wild. It's awesome. And then we know when we get stops, hey, we're going to score on the other end fast. That's what we've got to do. If we get stops, we're going to be a great team."

But, that's the same line as every player used almost daily last year: Get stops and we win. Carlisle came to Dallas three years ago preaching defensive demeanor. It didn't stick. The Mavs opened last season 19-7 and talked of yet another recommitment to defense. After a 131-96 beatdown in Los Angeles by the Lakers on Jan. 3, the Mavs' defense might as well have been in Maui.

"I think we're starting to take pride in [defense] because that's the next step to being a championship-level team," said 7-foot tag-team center Brendan Haywood, who was acquired in a February trade. "Look at the teams that have won championships in the last couple of years. They've all been teams that at some point could play very good defense. Look at Boston, the Spurs, Detroit. That's not by accident. That's what has to happen. You have to be a good defensive team to win. That's something coach has stressed from the preseason until now and we're going to keep getting better defensively."

When Trevor Ariza knocked down a 3-pointer to tie it at 95-95 with 40.8 seconds left, Carlisle called timeout.

"We just said we've got to stop these guys," Terry said. "The team with the most stops was going to prevail in this game. New Orleans is the second-best defensive team in the league right now and we're No 3. So, defense definitely wins games."

Terry came out of the timeout and buried an 18-foot jumper for a 97-95 lead with 34.9 to go. Then a scrambling, trapping Mavs defense took over on a wild second-to-last possession for the Hornets. David West missed from short range and off the rebound Ariza missed two 3-pointers.

Dirk Nowitzki gave New Orleans one last chance after he missed the second free throw to make it a 98-95 lead with 0.7 seconds left. Emeka Okafor wound up with the ball and didn't come close with a last-gasp 3-pointer.

And through nine games, the Dallas Mavericks are buying into the concept of team defense.

"Haywood and Tyson help with that. Dirk is believing in it. Jet. J.J. Whoever is out on the floor," Kidd said. "We always feel we might not be quick or we might not be able to jump high, but just playing team defense is a big thing in this league and again, you look at San Antonio or Boston or L.A., they play great team defense.

"I think we're believing in that."

A Commitment to Team Defense

Some quotes from the Boston Celtics camp on their goals and thoughts about being the best defensive team in the league. Comments came after Boston held Charlotte to 59 points in a 31 point victory. Here is an excerpt from espn.com:

"I think night in and night out, we want to come in and defend more than anything," said Perkins. "Obviously, you've got to put points up to win the game, but I just think we want to defend."

But coach Doc Rivers identified something special in this year's team and challenged his charges to be remembered like the 1985 Bears: one of the greatest defenses of all time.

"Doc brought it to our attention in the preseason," said Perkins. "We just kind of built from there. Doc asked if we wanted to be the best defensive team in history, like the '85 Bears. I think we've bought into it. We're playing intimate team defense and we just need to continue to do that."

"It's one thing to talk about it and another thing to actually do it," said Williams. "We're striving to [be the best defense], but we've got work to do. That's the mindset we have to have day in and day out. We're stressing defense every single play, ever single minute."

Which is why the Celtics enjoyed every moment of Wednesday's defensive-dominated victory. Asked what he prefers, shutting the opposition down or shining on the offensive end, Garnett didn't hesitate.

"Shutting people down," he said. "Because we work so hard in practice, man. Y'all have no idea what our drills are like.

"You know the majority of our practices are schemes. How we're going to defend, consistencies, schemes night-in and night-out for different people on different types of teams. But we work at it every single day.

"Every day, it's the same thing, same repetitive stuff, if not more. You know, when you shut a team down, that's hard work and effort."

"When you feel like you're forcing turnovers, it's just like it gets contagious and guys were everywhere," said Pierce. "It's great to watch."

Taking the next step

Article from espn.com on Portland wanting to take their team to the next level. Here is an excerpt on their mindset defensively:

Regardless, Portland will have to take another step forward from a year ago to challenge the likes of L.A. And to do that, it's counting on improving the defense -- again, a goal about which Pritchard, McMillan and the key players seemed to be in lockstep agreement.

"For most teams, when they took that next step, when they won consistently and they won big, those stars that team had committed to the defensive end of the floor," McMillan said. "It seems to me every team that wins the title, they end up talking about how they committed to the defensive end."

"Two years ago when Boston won it, some key guys who weren't really known for playing defense, that's all they talked about, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. Kobe talked about it this past year. You're going to need offense, but those teams that seem to commit to the defensive end of the floor, they've taken steps to put themselves in a position to win [a title]."

He's walking the walk on that front, too. McMillan devoted the entirety of Portland's first practice on Tuesday to defense.

Villanova turns up defense on Duke

By this time of the year, the teams that play great defense are still playing. As I posted earlier this week, Villanova is thriving on great team defense as was the case last night in their 77-54 victory over Duke in the Sweet Sixteen:

"That's the best I've seen all year," said Henderson of teams defending him. "Different teams attack it with help side and I do anticipate somebody else coming at me to take away my drive. But they did the best I've seen this year. It was every time. It was tough for me to get my own shot."

"We talked all year how good this team could be, but everybody really did lock in on every possession," Wright said. "We've had a guy get tired and miss an assignment. We've had 12-point leads and relaxed. It's happened to us in a lot of games. We had a lead against Marquette and relaxed. We had a big lead against Louisville and relaxed. I'm trying to get them to understand what will make them a great team."

LeBron's Commitment to Defense

There is a reason that the Cavs are off to a tremendous start this year. It starts and ends with their defense. Good article here on LeBron's new found commitment on the defensive end. Here is what LeBron says:

"Everybody says they want to play defense. They say they want to make a defensive stand,'' James told me Wednesday. "But are you really going to go out there and take pride in your defense and guard your man one-on-one? It took me a few years to realize I wanted to be a really good defensive player, and I've kind of turned that corner to where I am today. ''

"Communication is the biggest thing on defense,'' he said. "If you don't have that, you can easily break down. Me spearheading the defense with Ben and Delonte, we do a good job of trying to make sure guys are in the right spots. We try to help each other. It's not always going to be right, but you have to be able to cover for each other. When you make mistakes, by talking and communicating, you can get through it.''

Says coach Mike Brown:

"He just doesn't do it one time. He does it quite a bit,'' Brown said. "You hear him from the back side of our defense. We may have two people involved in a pick-and-roll, and he's yelling to our guys what they should do, what type of coverage we're in. That's very exciting to hear and see.

"Then one thing I talk to him about is his weakside defense. I thought [in Wednesday's victory] we didn't come up with all of them, but he got his hands on a ton of balls coming from the weak side because he was in the correct position defensively. And he was aware. When you've got your leader doing that type of stuff on that end of the floor, it's very contagious.''

More from Coach Brown:

Talking your way through defense is a big step forward from just talking about it. To demonstrate how thoroughly indoctrinated his club has become to the task, Brown -- in the middle of a pregame chat with reporters -- interrupted his comments to stop Williams as the point guard walked by.

"Hey, Mo! Mo!'' Brown said. "What's the one thing we have to do tonight? Yeah, one thing ...''

Poor Williams. Suddenly, a dozen people were looking at him, the silence lengthening. He might have been thinking about his Christmas list, pondering world peace or solving quadratic equations on his way out to shoot some warm-up shots, but now he was on the spot.

"We ... have to defend,'' Williams finally said.

Brown beamed.

"Now look at his face,'' the coach said. "That's a sincere young man there. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. That's just how my guys are. And you've got to love it. It just comes from within them. We've talked about it, and they believe it. I can ask any one of my guys that and they'll give you the same answer.''

Portland's Defense turning in wins

Portland is off to a 12-6 start thanks to an emphasis on the defensive end. Both players and coaches felt that it was important to stress defense during training camp. Here is an excerpt from an Oregonian article earlier this year.

McMillan said he asked his two stars [LaMarcus Aldridge & Brandon Roy] what needed to improve next season for the team to succeed, and he said both emphatically pointed to defense. Aldridge said a defensive light went on for him this summer, when he was part of a select team that practiced against the U.S. Olympic team.

In those workouts, Aldridge said, it quickly became apparent to him that stars such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were intent on playing defense, and how that commitment carried over to the rest of the team."

Said Aldridge: "After that, I knew that if those guys can put defense first - I mean, they are best in league - then in order for us to win, we have to be a better defensive team."

"Two areas in particular have been spotlighted: Help defense and containment, or preventing the ball handler from driving. To encourage help defense, the Blazers have been working on 'overloading' defenders to the side of the court where the ball is held.

If more players are on that side, then more players will be closer to the ball should the dribbler beat his man. In theory, this should limit the unimpeded layins that plagued the Blazers last season.

Overloading on defense was a strength of Boston last season during the Celtics' title run. Aldridge remembered in games against the Celtics that if a Blazers player got by his man, he was soon encountered by Paul Pierce, then Kevin Garnett, then Kendrick Perkins."

The Celtics team defense last season made a big impression on Aldridge:

"With Boston, it was like the whole team was guarding you," Aldridge said. "Whereas last year, I felt like we hung guys out to dry. A guy would drive against us, and I would be in the corner, Brandon would be at the top ... so we are trying to emphasize more team-defense this season."

"In conjunction with the overloading defense, the Blazers are working on "cheating", or anticipating that their teammate will need help defense. In theory, that will cut off many drives.

"Last year we were kind of scared to give up the jump shot, and they would go to the basket," Aldridge said. "Like LeBron when he went to the basket and won the game. If everyone would have cheated over, he would have had to pass it."

Also, the guards and wings have worked on pressuring the ball handler, but not getting beat, using the mantra "know your limits" when applying the pressure.

"It's pressure with containment," Roy said. "So you pressure the ball while being leery of a drive, thinking of a guy like Kobe or Wade. It's a mindset of 'pressure, pressure ... but don't get beat.' "

Says Aldridge: "We feel like if we put defense first, we can do anything.'

Defense is Getting Contagious

Good article here on cnnsi.com about scoring being tougher in the NBA. In the article it talks about how teams are starting to realize the importance of team defense more and more due to the Celtics championship run last year that was stressed by defensive intensity. Here are some good quotes from the article about players/coaches upset at their teams' defensive effort.

*Even more telling than the statistics, perhaps, is the attention being paid to defense up and down the NBA spectrum, from organizations with pedigree to those less proud. The Lakers lost just once in their first 12 games but beat themselves up after two or three of them, cranky over what they considered defensive underachievement.

"I'm not happy with this win,'' Kobe Bryant said after Sunday's 118-108 home victory against Sacramento. The Kings shot 53.4 percent, scored 58 points in the paint and became the third team in five games to score at least 100 points against a Lakers team that dedicated the preseason to stopping people.

"It's a mentality,'' Bryant said. "We want to get better each game. We don't want to give up 100 points.''

Joe Johnson of the Hawks: "One-on-one, we haven't been really guarding our man particularly well. And I'll take a lot of heat for that. But at the same time, we haven't been manning up and guarding our guys. Guys are flying by and getting to the hole and then breaking our defense down.''

"We have lost some of our defensive swagger, intensity or whatever you want to call it,'' coach Mike Woodson said earlier this month after back-to-back losses to New Jersey in which the Hawks gave up 234 points in barely 48 hours.