‘Everything But The Kitchen Sink’: Dallas Defense Contains Curry; Mavs Takes

Here are some of the biggest Dallas Mavericks takeaways from one of the biggest nights of the NBA season so far.

The Dallas Mavericks managed to take down the Golden State Warriors, who have the NBA's best record, during Wednesday's 99-82 win. Here’s a brief timeline of how they got there.

Both teams came out flat in the first quarter, scoring only 21 points apiece, but the Mavericks gained a double-figure advantage in the second quarter by outscoring Golden State 29-18 within the frame and achieving a 50-39 halftime lead. 

Dallas put together an underachieving period of their own right out of the break by scoring only 20 points in the third quarter. Golden State, known as a great third quarter team, managed to lead by as many as seven points (5:16 mark) after outscoring the Mavericks 24-6 immediately after halftime.

The Mavericks ultimately rallied back, and a horrendous 15-point fourth quarter from the Warriors was enough for Dallas to put the game away. 

While much of the attention for this matchup was placed on the great Dirk Nowitzki receiving his jersey retirement, the game itself had plenty to take note of.

Now, let's take a look at three of the biggest takeaways from the Mavericks' win over the Warriors.

Brunson-Doncic Backcourt is Working

The Mavericks have deployed Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic together in the starting backcourt over the last three games. It's working quite well, which is also something DallasBasketball.com has sought.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of this backcourt combination is the ability to overcome struggling perimeter shooting figures. 

Against the Warriors, despite shooting a combined 2-of-11 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc, the Doncic (26) and Brunson (15) tandem still ended up combining for 41 points. 

Both players ended up converting at a 50 percent clip on two-point field goals while Doncic got to the free throw line for 12 total attempts. It goes a long way to have two players that can initiate the half-court offense and break down a defense to get to the paint.

“We’re trying to play him and Luka together to relieve some of that pressure that teams are putting on Luka toward ball handling and Jalen’s done a great job for us,” Kidd said back in early December.

Brunson and Doncic have started five games together this season and the Mavericks posted a 4-1 record in those outings. 

During those five performances, Brunson averaged 19.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists. When looking at Doncic's production, he also averaged 23.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 9.0 assists.

Steph Curry Was Contained

It's rare for Steph Curry to have a poor shooting night, especially one as rough as this one. Teams must throw ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ at Curry to have a chance at containing him, and that’s exactly what Dallas did on Wednesday night.

Curry ended his performance with just 14 points while going 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from the field and 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) from deep. The Mavericks made it a point to slow him down—as all teams do—but he just didn't have it. 

"Everyone's throwing everything at him," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "Their best defender. Their double teams. They're trying to make it as difficult as possible. I thought tonight he pressed a little bit. He's trying hard to get out of it."

When looking at his track record, this was quite literally one of Curry's worst career games. He has only posted one other performance in his NBA career where he shot at least 20 field goal attempts and posted a lower field goal percentage. 

During a matchup with the Phoenix Suns back in late-November, Curry finished with just 12 points while going just 4-of-21 (19.0 percent) from the field. There was a difference of just 1.8 percent in field goal percentage between the two outings.

''The body of work over the course of this year's been pretty solid,'' Curry said. ''This stretch has not been great not up to my standards. So you've just to stick to the program. It'll come around.''

Given how incredible of a player Curry is, his struggles are most likely just a case of him missing shots, as opposed to the defense being so daunting that he just couldn't get the job done.

Regardless, the overall team effort from the Mavericks on defense is encouraging. Which leads us into our next take…

Mavs Dominating Defense Continues

It's not easy slowing down Steph Curry, let alone the whole Golden State Warriors offense. The 82 points they scored was a season-low and just the second time all season they finished below the 90-point threshold. 

“They switched a lot and were very physical with everybody,” Kerr said. “I thought they were really good defensively – just a step ahead of us. We weren’t ourselves, so give them credit.

The Mavericks have now put together five consecutive games where they've held the opponent below 100 points. Dallas has even held the opposition to fewer than 90 points in three straight outings. 

“The last couple games, I think it’s four or five in a row, we held opponents under 100 points,” Doncic said. “That’s pretty amazing. But today, it was just unbelievable the way we played defense, everybody, together.”

On the season, the Mavericks now have a 107.3 defensive rating (6th) and are just 0.1 percentage points behind the fifth-ranked Utah Jazz. A key factor has been their performance over the last five games—posting a league-best 95.5 defensive rating.

Riding a major high from Wednesday night, we’ll see if the Mavs can avoid a letdown when they travel to Houston on Friday to take on their I-45 rival Rockets.