Mavericks Practice Report (12/17/09)

Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Mavericks Practice Report (12/17/09)

Any team would be confident while riding a five-game winning streak.

The Dallas Mavericks are not out to be just any team. After a 100-86 road win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Southwest Division-leading Mavericks returned to the practice court for a little fine-tuning. Though there was a little extra bounce in their steps, the Mavericks don't have a loosey-goosey state of mind right now and Mavs coach Rick Carlisle doesn't see one developing with the division rival Houston Rockets coming into Dallas on Friday night.

(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

"I don't think we're loose," Carlisle said after practice of Thursday. "I think we're playing better basketball, but we've been serious about the task at hand. And I think that's important. The thing about winning is it's great and it gets you energized, but you can't let complacency creep in."

"We want too have fun with this and we want to be a great basketball team, but we have to keep our eye on the ball and know who is coming down the line here."

The Mavericks know the team next in line very well, after falling behind by double digits in both of their two previous games against the Rockets. Dallas did however come back to win each game in blowout fashion, with an average margin of victory just under 25 points per game.

"We've played them twice now, actually played them three times because we played them in exhibition, and so we know all too well what they are capable of. Both regular season games, they hit us for big first half deficits. The first game we were down 17 in the first half and the second game we were down 15-2 to start the game, so we're obviously looking for a better start," Carlisle said.

Still the Mavericks know the Rockets have hung their hat on hard work, leaving behind bruised and outworked opponents in their wake. Dallas can't get outworked by the upstart Rockets at the onset of the game as in the previous meetings, forward Dirk Nowitzki said.

"They really play with a lot of energy," Nowitzki said. "They've got young guys that play hard at both ends of the floor, they compete. Sometimes I think with us being a little older team, a mature team, we sometimes seem to coast a little bit into games. That hurts us against young, athletic teams."

(Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

Houston is particularly dangerous now that Tracy McGrady is back in the lineup, seeing limited action recently nearly nine months after undergoing microfracture surgery on his left knee.

Though the star is slowly working his way back, his All-Star talent has never been in question.

"(McGrady) is a great player," Carlisle said. "The more he plays, the better he's going to play. The more shots he's going to make, the bigger factor he's going to be. All of us know all too well what he can do. We don't want him to get going on us."

Carlisle is not a big believer that McGrady's return will hinder the Rockets' already balanced offense.

"If you have a great player and you get him back on the court, that's a good thing. He's going to play more and more as it goes along and we're going to have to be ready for him to be out there," Carlisle said.

(Photo by Larry W. Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)

Even if McGrady returns to form, the Mavs have shown an ability to shut down the NBA's best and brightest stars of later. In the Mavs win over the Thunder, Shawn Marion and Josh Howard held the league's third leading-scorer, Kevin Durant, to just 12 points. Meanwhile, Jason Kidd was stifling Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook to 6-of-19 shooting.

"We did a really good job on those guys," Carlisle said of shutting down Durant and Westbrook. "Shawn and Josh are two experienced, high level NBA defenders. They really took the challenge -- Durant is third in the league in scoring. Same thing with Kidd and Westbrook."

"We were solid with it, but now we have to move on to the next game. That one is over."

Defensive is becoming the Mavericks' calling card, which was a focus of the team before the season.

"I'm actually surprised by our defense, not only the past five games but the first 26," Nowitzki said. "Overall the consistency defensively has been pretty impressive. That was our goal coming into the season, to be a better defensive team -- compete harder and hold teams in the low 40s (shooting percentage). We did that a bunch of teams, so that's actually been impressive."

Looking for their sixth straight win, the Mavs start a four-game home stand on Friday night when the Rockets enter Dallas for a second time this season. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS. That game will air locally on TXA 21 and TXA HD at 7:30 p.m. CT.

The Mavericks and the NBA have introduced the official NBA All-Star game ballot, featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, Shawn Marion and Jason Terry. For more on how to vote for your favorite Mavs for the All-Star game, to be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, visit Mavs.com.

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