“Vobble, Baby! Vobble, Baby! Vobble, Baby! Vobble…”
Beez in the Trap! It won’t take any more Nicki Minaj slander to for Atlanta Hawks fans to understand that tonight’s meeting with the Dallas Mavericks at Philips Arena (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Southwest in DFW) is the quintessential “trap game”.
When our Hawks last left American Airlines Center on January 7, they played at a tempo more amenable to the Mavericks’ style of play, but still stifled their perimeter offense (25.0 3FG%) along the way to a smooth 97-82 win. So, coming off a big win in Boston on Monday, it’s likely Atlanta thinks it has (again) turned the corner, and can now just stroll down the street, unencumbered by a Dallas squad missing swingman shooter Wesley Matthews (hip). Well, not so fast, my fine feathered friends!
Dallas fell to 11-26 with that loss to the Hawks. But within a week, the Mavs would embark on a 13-8 run that elevated them completely out of the Western Conference basement. Now just 2.5 games out of that 8-seed in the West, Rick Carlisle’s club is perfectly happy competing and letting the chips fall where they may.
Up until that point, the Mavs seemed a bit lost in terms of direction. Slow and aging starters around a free agent pickup in forward Harrison Barnes (career-high 20.1 PPG) who is still getting a feel for the ropes, supported by a relatively clueless supporting cast off the bench, was the recipe for a rudderless campaign. Then, point guard Yogi Ferrell came along, and pairing him with That Other Curry, Seth (last 3 games: 24.3 PPG, 61.1 3FG%, 4.0 APG; 29 points on 5-for-7 3FGs in win vs. MIA on Monday), allowed the Mavs’ offensive uptick to commence in earnest.
One trivial note: despite having a middle name of Duane, and growing up in Indiana, Yogi is completely unrelated to former Hawks player, sportscaster and ex-Pacer Duane Ferrell. Kevin Duane Ferrell, Jr. is doing more than just distinguishing himself from his father by using a cartoonish first name. Yogi has stood out enough over just 13 games (4.8 APG, 1.8 TOs/game, 41.0 3FG%), that the Mavs’ brass had no qualms about cutting ties with Metroplex native Deron Williams, who now gets to be that coveted playmaker LeBron has been whining about.
Keeping the youth movement in a positive direction, the team also moved their intractable center Andrew Bogut, and the disappointing second-year pro Justin Anderson, in a deal with Philadelphia for the formerly sandbagged Nerlens Noel. Noel’s exploits with compiling steals and blocks in games had disappeared, once the 76ers turned the pivot over to Joel Embiid. Now, the Mavs hope to make prominent use out of what Donnie Nelson calls the “Tyson Chandler Starter Kit.”
These moves serve Dallas well in keeping the Dirk Nowitzki Farewell Tour extended for another season or two. Noel will eventually allow Dirk (13.6 PPG, lowest since rookie season in 1998-99; 38.6 3FG%; career-high 25.9 D-Reb%) to shift away from center and back to a stretchy power forward, while moving Barnes into the small forward spot that he played frequently at Golden State.
Carlisle’s Commandment is to press, press, press opponents from halfcourt to the three-point line, shooing them off from taking contested shots and forcing them into mistakes once they put the ball on the floor. Opponents shoot 38.5 3FG% against Dallas (2nd-highest in NBA), but open looks are surprisingly few and far between (24.5 opponent 3FGAs/game, 4th-fewest in NBA).
The Mavs’ 15.3 opponent TO% is the best in the league, but their 7.8 steals-per-48 is just average (15th in NBA). Instead, they’ll force all the other kinds of mistakes out of their foes: traveling, double-dribbles, offensive fouls, 3-second violations, and the like. The slow tempo accommodates Nowitzki, while the dogged defensive efforts around him keep him from having to do too much at the rim.
The defense has been just sound enough to allow the Mavs time to find their individual comfort zones on the offensive end. To keep the perimeter defense sound, Matthews’ absence pushes Dorian Finney-Smith back to the starting unit. Noel was supposed to start, but a bout of Schröder’s Disease had him late for the team plane, thus keeping him a reserve for now.
Dallas leaves the offensive rebounding chances alone (18.3 O-Reb%, last in NBA), likely suggesting that a rested Dwight Howard (17 points and 12 rebounds in less than three quarters @ BOS on Monday; 38 double-doubles, most by any NBA player age 30+) and Paul Millsap (10 D-Rebs plus 2 steals @ BOS) should have a field day around the rim, with only Noel likely to try changing that outcome.
No longer a team with a running identity (11.7 fastbreak points per-48, 21st in NBA) Atlanta needs to push the pace when they can. But when setting up in halfcourt, the key for Dennis Schröder and company is to emphasize motion (more cuts, less drives) while keeping the ball off the floor as much as rationally possible. On the defensive end, let’s pressure Dallas’ relatively new guards and make it clear that it’s the Mavs, not the Hawks, who are stuck in the trap game.
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
