Dallas Mavericks: Balanced Offense is Key to Winning

The Dallas Mavericks are going for a three game winning streak and their key to it all is a balanced attack on the offensive end of the ball.

It’s safe to say that the season hasn’t gone as planned in Dallas.

Dirk Nowitzki has played in only 15 of the Mavericks 40 games while veterans such as Deron Williams, Devin Harris, J.J. Barea, and Andrew Bogut have all missed time. Having a completely healthy rotation has been near impossible as the Mavericks find themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference with a 13-27 record.

But then the light at the end of the tunnel was found when Dallas welcomed back J.J. Barea to the lineup last Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks as they finally had a fully healthy rotation. But then another injury to Bogut came and the Mavericks decided to insert Seth Curry into the starting unit in Mexico.

Fast forward two games and the Mavericks have won two straight games, both victories having at least six players in double figure scoring.

So what’s the key to winning for the Mavs? Rick Carlisle says it’s that balanced scoring.

“The key for us to win is going to be balance on offense. We need a lot of guys sharing the scoring responsibilities,” Carlisle said. “It’s pretty clear we are picking up the pace with Dirk and Barea back in there. We are showing signs in making some progress.”

In the win against Minnesota, Matthews finished with 19, Nowitzki 17, Barea 15, Barnes 13, Williams 13, and Harris 10. Balanced scoring across the board gives the Mavericks options in both units compared to only having a few options in the whole rotation.

When Nowitzki, Barea, Harris, and Williams all missed time, it was Barnes and Matthews that had been relied upon throughout the season to shoulder the offensive load. Now the load can be spread around and it seems to be working.

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When asked at his locker after the game about the balanced scoring attack, Wesley Matthews had this to say. “That’s how we have to play. That brand of basketball is fun, everybody had energy. You could feel it in the crowd, we hadn’t felt that in a long time. Moving the ball well and they are team shots, opposed to one person shots.”

Fun. Energy. Crowd.

These are all words that simply haven’t been talked about much this year in Dallas, but on Sunday, the crowd was alive and well. On one sequence in the second half, Dirk Nowitzki hit a trailing three from way behind the line that sent the American Airlines Center in a frenzy.

Energy filled the arena, the team was having fun and the crowd spent much-needed time on their feet cheering on their Mavs.

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The only question now is if they can sustain it and it looks like a balanced offense is the key to it all.