Mavericks Practice Report (12/29/09)

(Photo By Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

Earl K. Sneed, Mavs.com
Mavericks Practice Report (12/29/09)

The last two games have served as the blueprint for winning basketball for the Dallas Mavericks.

(Photo By Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

In both games, two Dallas wins, the Mavs featured a balanced offensive attack with seven players scoring in double figures while displaying shutdown defense on some of the NBA's premiere scorers. With three days to prepare for a three-game road trip, the Mavericks returned to the practice court on Tuesday hoping to continue to fine-tune their offense arsenal.

"Our key to success is not only defense but getting consistent scoring from everyone that's out there on the floor," sixth man Jason Terry said. "We've been able to do a great job of that and we're getting ball movement. Ball movement is the key for us, and it allows everyone to be able to touch it and be involved.

"If we hold the ball and try to play one-on-one basketball, we're not a very good team. We still have the talent and we've got one of the best players in the world in Dirk (Nowitzki) that can do that, but it doesn't help us as a team. We need ball movement and everybody is happy when that happens."

(Photo by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

One reason the Mavericks have gelled offensively is a second year under Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. With the players in Carlisle's system for another season, the team has learned to maximum the offensive talent on the court. Carlisle has learned from his players as well, allowing point guard Jason Kidd to have more freedom with his own play-calling on the court this season, creating a much more free-flowing transition assault.

"(Carlisle) is the same as he was last year, in terms of he prepares us well and he has us ready to go," Kidd said of his coach. "I think the biggest thing is he understands that with a veteran ball club, (he knows) what we need to understand when we're not playing well and he gives that to us.

"When we're just out there playing, it shows that he has trust in us...He lets us play because he believes that we're going to do the right thing."

The coach is quick to point out that his veteran point guard also deserves a lot of credit for the ball moving around and finding its way into multiple scorers' hands of late.

"Jason Kidd figures it out," Carlisle answered when asked how the Mavericks keep so many potent scorers happy. "We've been in this system now for close to a year and a half, and I think we've gained a feel and a sense for what works.

"I don't think you can sit down and script everything you factor, not with our team because we're a flow-team offensively. There are too many variables, but the things that we do know is that hard play and attention to detail of the game plan is a constant with everything."

As the Mavericks have found out after one exhibition and three regular season games against the Houston Rockets, hard work and attention to detail means everything when matching up with the divisional rival. In the final regular season meeting between the two squads, Dallas is hoping to use the formula of success from their back-to-back wins.

Though the Mavs lead the season series 2-1, Dallas trailed by double-digit deficits in the first halves of their two wins before blowing out the Rockets in the final 24 minutes of play. In their one loss, a 116-108 overtime defeat to the Rockets at home on Dec. 18, the Mavs lost Nowitzki early in the second quarter after the superstar collided with Rockets forward Carl Landry. Nowitzki left the game with a deeply lacerated right elbow, while Landry never returned after losing several teeth, but the Rockets were still able to out-hustle the Mavs in the extra period to claim the win on Dallas' home floor. It was a lessen learned, according to Terry.

"This is a team that we've played already four times this year. They play hard. If you don't come ready to outwork them, you're in for a long night," Terry said.

Now the Mavericks will play their final game of 2009 when they head into Houston on New Year's Eve. The Mavericks-Rockets matchup will air locally on KTXA and KTXA HD at 6:00 p.m. CT. It is the second game of four straight on the road for the Mavericks.


The team returns to the American Airlines Center on Jan. 5 to host the Detroit Pistons. That game will air locally on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS.

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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