The Dallas Mavericks STUNNING #2 Defense is Mostly Real, But Why?

The Dallas Mavericks STUNNING #2 Defense is Mostly Real, But Why?

On today’s show, the Dallas Mavericks defense is number two in the NBA right now and it’s mostly real. This is Cooper Flag and you’re listening to Locked on. That’s a good question. All these changes, you know, I still got my dog Dwight Pal. Locked on, your daily Mavericks podcast. Part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. I’m going to get a city right back and welcome you locked on to the Dallas Mavericks your team every day. My name is Nick Angia member covering the Maver 10 years. Thanks for being in every day or making locked on Maps your first listen and making the lock on Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network out there. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now. New customers who can bet just $5. If your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Head to fanuel.com to get started. Today’s episode I want to talk about what’s real about the Mavericks defense. As I’m recording this a little earlier in the week, it’s number two in the NBA on NBA.com and that is wild. We’ll talk about what things the Mavericks do. We’ll talk about Anthony Davis potentially returning and what he can do to change that defense and also talk about the historic context of this defense because there has not been a team this good on defense and this bad on offense in a long time. So, let’s get into all that stuff, but let’s start here. The Dallas Mavericks defense number two in the NBA. Absolutely insane that that is the case. The Mavs have not had Anthony Davis and Dererick Lively for very many games this season. You just look at the straight up minutes that they’ve played. Anthony Davis played 149 minutes so far this season. Musa Cece has played 146. If you want to just start there, Mavs 2A center has played more. You you just look at the straight up minutes and Ryan Nehard has played 58 minutes. Anthony Davis played 149. So it’s like he’s played a third of the minutes. Dwight Powell’s played 125 and he hasn’t even played that much. It’s wild that the M and Derrick Lively’s played 115. That’s less than Anthony Davis. Even though Derrick Lively’s played some more games here. It’s less time with those two guys than you would expect from a team with a top the top two defense with a top five defense. Let’s say by the time you’re listening to this, it’s probably around the five spot because it it it it changes and and adjusts so much. It’s wild to watch this Mavericks defense stay where they are, be where they are, be in as many games as they’ve been in. And I think most of it is real. There are some things that I’ll go through and I’ll walk through that are not real about it. But the Mavericks, for all the warts, for all the terrible things, for all the lack of being able to win close games, what they’re they’re six and five, four and 10 in clutch games so far this season, they can’t win these close games at all. But they’re keeping it close and they’re holding some of these teams to like really low offensive offensive ratings, right? The, you know, the like the Thunder were held to 104 offensive rating this like in the game that the Mavs played against them. The Thunder this season have a a rate a rating of 122. The Mavs held it to 104. They were missing some players, but they’ve been missing some players all season. It’s kind of wild to watch this Maverity. They held the the Heat to 105 offensive rating. They held the Clippers and and James Harden and all that to 107. They’ve been holding these teams to the Knicks to 114, which is just like average for an offense that has two all NBA type players in there in Brunson and and Cat. They’ve been doing this against some real teams. And yes, they’ve there’s been some there’s been some luck here and there, but the Mavs defense, I think, is real. And the reasons why I think it’s real is the Mavs roster has these switchable wings and obviously Cooper Flag, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, even throw in Klay Thompson who’s been pretty good on defense this year for all intents and purposes. He’s 6’7 and he is a, you know, been a decent defender. He at least presents, you know, a matchup. We’ve had Lively for some of these games and Lively’s onoff numbers for the Mavericks has been absolutely wild. And for the Mavericks to not have Lively potentially the rest of this season or we’ll see what happens with him has been insane to see. The Mavs defense is nine points better per 100 possessions with Lively on the floor. It’s actually nine points better than 100 possessions with Klay Thompson on the floor. Four points better with Daniel Gaffford, which tells me that the Mavs bench has been a big catalyst in this. The Mavs bench has been a really big deal. When you can throw in a bench and let’s say let’s go let’s go Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall. You can throw uh like Max Christie will play with some bench units. PJ Washington’s playing with some bench units. Throw Caleb Martin out there like he hasn’t he hasn’t been that great. He’s only played 140 minutes, but the Mavs bench has been defending really well. They have a backup center of Derek of Daniel Gaffford sometimes, Musa Cisce sometimes who blocks a bunch of shots. The Mavs having this bench and just having the depth that they have of a bunch of different guys and go out there and defend. We all laugh about the defense wins championship thing, but the Mavs defense is good. The Mavs defense has been has been really good this season and I think that that’s one thing you can hang your hat on if the Mavericks and you haven’t had Anthony Davis like an all world defender and for him to come back potentially in this weekend or whenever he comes back. He could come back tonight if you’re listening to this on Friday is fascinating to me that they that they already have this and that they’re already at they’re already at this point. I don’t think it’s fool’s gold. I think there’s a couple things like the Mavericks have had some luck with opponent threes. Right now, teams are shooting 32% like 31.8% on all threes against the Mavericks. That’s second in the NBA. They’re really good at defending threes and 33% on corner threes. That’s fourth in the NBA. Opponents are shooting very low percentage on threes against the Mavericks. And against unguarded threes against the Mavericks, it’s only 32.5%. That’s number one in the NBA on points per possession. number one in the NBA in three-point percentage on unguarded threes. So, these threes are not getting guarded, for example, to the Mavericks. So, teams are shooting 32% on unguarded threes against the Mavericks. Number two is Denver at 34%. Number 30 is Brooklyn. Teams are shooting 46% on unguarded threes against Brooklyn. Brooklyn’s all the way at the bottom. So, there is a there is a twinge of luck there with the the three-point shot. So, if you want to say, “Oh, it’s just fool’s gold that teams aren’t hitting threes against the Mavericks,” you could make that case. I could come on here and say, “Oh, it’s all fool’s gold.” Teams are only shooting 32% on unguarded threes. Yes, that’s true. Maps have gotten some some help, some some luck there, but I think they’re also forcing some of the players that you don’t want to take those threes to take those threes, right? You got to think about the players that are taking them. It’s not like they’re leaving some of these star players unguarded on threes for the most part. And going into the season, we were concerned about the amount of threes the Mavs would would let up, that the Mavs would would allow. And that has not been a crazy like that has not been a a crazy problem for the Mavericks so far. They’re actually the lowest team teams are only taking 33% of their shots from three against the Mavericks. That’s the lowest in the NBA. Teams are taking, you know, teams are taking 44% of their threes. 44% of their shots on threes against the Pelicans. That’s last in the NBA. So almost almost half of the team shots against the Pelicans are threes. For the Mavericks, it’s only 33%. So that has been a thing. So if you want to talk about the things, this is what the Mavericks defense does. They limit threes. They limit a lot of threes. And so limiting the limiting the threes, limiting who takes the threes, that has been a big catalyst in this Mavericks defense being good. Having a lot of switchable wings and guards and guys to just throw around the perimeter even though their rim protection has been inconsistent with Lively in there, Gaffford in there, Anthony Davis in there sometimes, Musa in there sometimes, sometimes not playing with a center. I mean, how many times have we seen the Mavericks play without a center at all with PJ with Flag at center and those those lineups have been those lineups have been hit and miss here or there? It depends. But I think the Mavericks defense is real because of the personnel they can throw out there, the depth of the personnel with those wings. I haven’t even mentioned Max Christie who I think has been solid as a defender for sure, but I think the Mavs have something real there with their defense. Will it stay number two in the NBA for the whole season? I doubt it. I doubt that it’ll stay like that for the for the whole season because of the three-point luck. I think that’s the thing that’s going to affect it. But if they do get Anthony Davis back, then we’ll see. By the way, I just looked it up. The offense the defense without any of the centers has been 117.1. That’s below average. It’s not good. So, the the centers have been a big catalyst in this for sure. Like having those centers and having the depth of the centers that they do like the small ball lineups have not been good defensively. So that is not part of what makes the Mavs good. But what makes the Mavs goods good is having those wings plus having a center back there. And they have five centers, right? So they can have one back there at all times for the most part. They’ve only played 200 possessions without without a center. Coming up, what else does the Mav Mavs defense do? They limit threes, but what else do they do? What have they been great at? They’ve been great in one key area that I think is something that is is massive. We don’t talk about it enough. We’ll talk about that. We won’t we haven’t talked about it enough, but we’ll talk about it coming up next. [Music] Today’s episode of Lock Time Apps brought to you by Door Dash. Door Dash is uh is there when you have so many games that you want to watch and you got to get some food. You got to feed yourself. You got to get something delivered to you. And right now, Door Dash has something that they want you to take advantage of called the bag drop. Every time an NBA player scores 50 points in a game, Door Dash will drop 50% off your order with Dash Pass the next day, and you’re automatically entered for a chance to win the ultimate fan bag. They have things like player inspired drip, exclusive gear, and stuff. you’re actually going to want a one in the Ultimate Fan Bag. So, check it out. See how you can get access to the Ultimate Fan Bag and to to get a chance to win one of those. Next time somebody in the NBA goes off for 50 points, use this promo code. Ready? NBA. The letters NBA. The numbers 50. NBA 50 the next day to get 50% off on Door Dash. You have to have Dash Pass with this plus your shot at the bagdrop. Dash Pass members only. 50% off up to $10 the next day after a 50-point game with promo code. Terms apply. No purchase necessary. Ends April 13th. Open to US residents 21 or older. Visit door dashinyourbag.com for full details. Door Dash inyourbag all season long. Shut it down. Let’s go home. Thanks for hanging out with us unlocked on Mavs, being part of the show, part of the Raccoon Squad. That’s what we call our listeners listening every day. We appreciate you for checking out the show. We have a daily show that covers the Dallas Mavericks. If you’re listening to this uh the day after Thanksgiving, hopefully you had a great day with your family or you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and that’s fine. Lots of our listeners are from places where they don’t have Thanksgiving. But uh check out our show throughout the rest of the season. We’ll have post games every single day slightly. Should be back probably on Monday with those post games, but Isaac and I will have you covered for the Owens this weekend. And we’re talking about the Mavs defense right now. I think it’s real for the most part. There are some things that are fool’s gold with the three-point shooting. That has been a big outlier and that has been a thing that the Mavs are doing really well. But I think it’s strategic and I don’t think that it’s just straight up luck that the Mavs have limited the amount of threes the teams are taking and that they’re shooting a bad percentage on unguarded threes. It’s that the players that you want taking those unguarded threes are taking those unguarded threes. Let’s go through some of the things the Mavs do. So I talked about they’re limiting the amount of shot the amount of threes teams are taking. They’re number one in the NBA and teams take the least amount of their shots as threes. 33 only 33% of team shots are threes. Only 8% are corner threes. That’s sixth in the NBA. 25% are non-c corner threes. That’s first in the NBA. Teams are not taking a lot of threes against the Dallas Mavericks. What they are taking is the short mid-range shots. 26% of teams shots are these short mid-range. That’s 29th in the NBA. So only one other team allows more short mid-range shots, short to mid-range shots than the Mavericks. You want to force these mid-range shots. One of the reasons why this Mavericks offense has struggled is they don’t have guys to take those shots. They don’t have guys to take those short mid-range shots to create their own offense. The SGA shot, obviously, some, you know, some Lucas shots here and there. But the Mavs are forcing some of these teams to have players that aren’t good take these take these short mid-range short to mid-range shots. And they’re deterring shots right at the rim when they’re when they’re able to with the centers with their wings being able to switch and all that. So, they’re not allowing threes. They are allowing the mid-range shots and allowing a lot of mid-range shots, which is fine. That’s kind of what you No, that’s it’s kind of what you want. Um, teams are taking a ton of short mid-range shots. That’s like the the floaters, and those are tough. Like, those are those are shots that if you have a floater in your bag, you’re just you’re just you have a spot in the NBA, and not a lot of team not a lot of players have that. The one area where they’re excellent and awesome, according to Synergy, the Mavericks are excellent. the highest ranking you can get. Excellent in transition defense. We don’t talk about this enough. The Mavs are number they’re the second best in the NBA behind OKC in terms of points per possession in terms of, you know, the amount of points they allow in transition. That’s been awesome. And the crazy thing about it is they’ve been terrible turning the ball over. We’ve been talking all all season about, man, the Mavs turnover problems are huge. But they don’t allow a ton of points in transition. So that they have made up for it. That has happened with a lot of wings, a lot of quick wings, a lot of young they’re getting some younger wings here. Guys can get back in transition. Your Cougar Flags, your PJ Washingtons, your Max Christies. All those guys can get back in transition. Musa runs the floor. Derrick Lively has run has run the floor. You don’t have a lot of guy Dwight Powell runs the floor when he plays. You don’t have a lot of guys that are just plotting. There was an issue with Anthony Davis early in the season. I’m curious to see how that changes after he’s watched this team, but they’ve been excellent transition. Only allowing 1.03 points per possession on transition plays. That has been excellent. That’s the one area that they are amazing. We have not talked about that enough, but that is a huge thing. They’re not allowing a ton of points in transition even though they’re giving up a lot of transition opportunities because of their turnover problems. And the Mav turnover problems aren’t as bad as like some teams, right? It just seems bad because the Mavericks for the last couple of years under different regimes and under different offensive systems have been a really good turnover team going all the way back to 2022. The Mavs going in that Western Conference Finals was like turnovers was a huge thing for them. They only average like 12 turnovers a game. And so for the last four or five years, we’ve been used to the Mavericks not having a lot of turnovers because they didn’t have a lot of guys do things with the ball. There’s two to three players a game that would do stuff with the ball. Everybody else is a finisher and that’s the way the Mavericks were built. And so you got a bunch of turnovers from your big your big players. Obviously Luca, Kyrie, whoever else would get, you know, three, four, five turnovers in a game. And that would be like half the turnovers the Mavs would have that game because nobody else is handling the ball a lot. It’s an adjustment that watching this Maverick team is different. So they’re great in transition defending. They also um are excellent obviously in defending spot-up shots from teams. Only, you know, 0.92 points per possession. That’s excellent. Synergy’s ranking. Again, that’s the highest ranking you can get. They’re excellent defending those those shots. And here’s where a little bit more of the the three-point luck comes into play. Teams effective effective field goal percentage, which is like a combined everything of all your different um you know, shots, including three-point shots. They include that like three is more than two. And so they try and throw that in like, all right, how are how are teams shooting across the board? The Mavs are third in the NBA in in defending effective field goal rating. That’s 51%. If if the if the their opponent shot league average across the board on every single on every single shot with it with with wherever they’re shooting them, the amount of threes, the amount of twos, the amount of at the rim, the amount of short ridge, all that teams would be shooting 55% from the field. So, they’re only shooting 51% against the Mavs. If they shot league average everywhere, they’d be shooting 55% according to the locations where they shoot everything. That would rank 15th. So, you can take that one or two ways. One, the Mavs are defending really well. Two, the Mavs are getting luck with the teams not shooting great against them. But I’ll go back to what I said earlier. Some of that is forcing the right guys to shoot those things. Some some players don’t shoot league average at certain spots, and there’s a reason for it. So, there’s some there’s maybe a little bit of luck there. The other thing is the Mavs kind of limit limit free throws. Only 21.5% of team shots are from the free throw line. That’s 11th in the NBA. It’s like close to top 10, right? It’s not it’s not elite elite, but it’s something that they limit. They don’t they don’t foul that much. We’ve had some games recently where they have fouled a ton, but throughout the season they have not. And that’s an interesting thing. Those three-point numbers are so wild to me just going back to them. Teams are only shooting 32% on unguarded threes, but you have more players than ever shooting threes. the Mavs are are letting the right players shoot threes and all that. Derrick Lively has been a huge factor and this is one thing I’m looking at going forward for the Mavs defense is without Derrick Lively for has as long as he’s out and he’s going to be out for the next probably two weeks and then we’ll see what happens after that. The Mavs are nine points per 100 possessions better with him on the def on the floor than than with him off. Getting Anthony Davis back will be massive for that. And so that is huge. But with Derek Lively out, I’m curious to see how the Maverick’s defense looks going forward. Now, he’s been out for a while and the defense has still been where it is and it’s kind of risen from from where it was. Some of that is the opponents that they’ve played, right? They’ve had Pelicans game recently. They’ve had a Wizards game recently. They’ve had some of these games recently against bad teams. But Derek Lively is a incredible defender. Was a big catalyst for this for how good this team was when he when he defended. And the team was elite defending when he was on the floor. And for him to miss games, another reason why it hurts for Derrick Lively to miss a bunch of games and for maybe to miss maybe the rest of the season. By the time you’re listening to this, you may know there may be another update. I doubt it, but nine points per 100% possession is better with him on the on the floor than off of it is a big loss for the Mavericks. He was he was massive. The Mavericks are probably getting Anthony Davis back for however long he’s going to be back. And so coming up, Derek Derek Lively is a big positive on defense. Cooper flag is statistically a big negative on defense. Why is that? And then we’ll talk about historically where this Mavericks defense stands because it’s kind of wild. Coming up, [Music] today’s episode of Lock Maps brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel sports book has all kinds of props, nods, things that you can use to get in on the action. Go see what you can get on FanDuel right now. They have this deal where if you’re a new customer, you can bet just $5 on anything. And if you win, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, head to FanDuel. Go find something. Let’s just go NBA. Let’s go to the uh something I guess not super Steph Curry to score 400 points in December. He has 13 games. This is a fascinating one. If you want to just do like a December, all of December thing. Luca to score 500 points in December is plus three is plus 340. Bronny James to score 50 points in December. What are we doing? What are we doing? Here we go. Cooper flag scored 250 points in December. uh and he plays 13 games. That is an interesting one. So, if you’re really confident that Cooper Flag is going to do that and he’s going to score 250 points, you can put some put $5 down on that and see and see what happens with you. So, go check that out, see what happens, and then you can go check out uh that, you know, the bonus bets and see what you can use that for because you can use it all across the app. I’m trying to see what he scored in November. In November, he scored 219 points. You’re guessing that he’s going to score more points. 219 points in 13 games. He plays 13 games in December. This is an interesting one. Again, go check it out on FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Please gamble responsibly. Shut it down. Let’s go home. All right, Isaac, let’s get into the rest of this. We’re talking about the Mavs defense. What is real? I think it is a real defense. There’s It’s been great. I talked about some things that they’ve done. They’re great in transition. They’re limiting a lot of threes. They’ve had some luck on threes. Derrick Lively has been awesome, but he’s out. And so we talked about Derrick Lively being a minus the Mavs are nine points per 100 possessions better when he’s there. The Mavs are actually seven points per 100 possessions worse on defense when Cooper Flag plays. I think there’s a couple reasons for this. One, the Mavs starters have been pretty bad this whole season. And he has been obviously part of it the whole year. He’s one of the few stalwarts that’s been there for the whole season. He’s missed one game. So, that’s a factor. The Mavs off the Mavs got all those slow starts to begin the year. They still getting some slow starts. Uh they’re just obviously just bad. But with him on the floor, that’s been that’s been a problem. I don’t think I think Flag is one of their best defenders. It is sometimes a weird phenomenon when one of the best defenders on the team is also like a big negative because he’s playing with other players that are not good defensively. He’s played with some D’Angel Russell lineups. He’s obviously played with some Klay Thompson lineups. He’s played with some Brandon a lot of Brandon Williams lineups, Daniel Gaffford lineups, but it is interesting that he is so such has been such a big negative at least statistically on the floor because eye test wise you watch him and go that’s a good defender. He does a lot of things well. He stays in front of guys. He stands them up. He’s been good getting deflections because obviously he’s long. He can defend smaller players. He can defend some bigger players. We’ve seen him get bodied a little bit here and there by some guys, but he’s also stood some guys up in ways that you wouldn’t expect. So, for him to be a a negative, it was a little surprising to me because it was one of the the lowest on the team as far as guys that have played a ton of minutes. Naja Marshall is plus 6.3. Musa is plus 6.1. Cougar Flag’s plus seven. Max Christiey’s plus five. Max Christiey’s played with a bunch of the starters. Cooper Flag is also playing against starters. So, he’s playing against the best players on the other team. Mav’s bench has been good. Klay Thompson minus N points per 100 possessions when he’s been on the floor. Daniel Gaffford minus four. The benches have been playing against lesser players. The Mavs bench has been good. Their depth has been a big key for all this. And Cooper Flag’s been playing against starters. And so, that’s another reason why that you would say, man, he like that that team has struggled a lot when he’s been on the floor. The offense has also struggled when Cooper Flag’s been on the floor. Mavs Mavs are minus 10 points per 100 possessions worse when he’s on the floor and so a bad offense leads to a bad defense there’s it’s it’s cyclical all that just thought that number was interesting and I don’t really I don’t buy it in terms of like oh he’s a negative defender that’s why you got to put it into context and put it into context with like I think Naji has been a pretty good defender even though the team is worse with him on on defense right now. Max Christie I think has been a good defender. Team is worse with him on defense right now. And then you go Brandon Williams is a there’s a pos the maps have been positive with Brandon Williams and been better with Brandon Williams on the floor. I don’t think he’s a better defender than Naji or Cooper Flag. Got to put that number into context. All right. The last time a defense was this bad, there’s some numbers that I’ll go through. The Mavs right now are number two in the NBA defense. They’re five and 14. That’s bad. Nobody else Nobody else in the in the top, right? Nobody else, nobody else in the top five is this bad of a team right now. Currently, the other teams that are in the top, the Thunder who are, as I’m recording this on Wednesday, 17-1, Detroit is 15-2, Miami is 12-6, and Toronto is 13-5. Even down to Houston is 11-4. The next team that’s like below 500 that you can get to is Memphis. They’re 18th in defense, they’re six and 12. The Mavs are like this one polar bear in in Arlington that’s hanging out there in the top 17 in defense that is below 500. That just makes me laugh. The last time a team finished the season top five defensively and was below 500 was the Bulls were fifth in defense and they are 40 and 42. That that team in in 2023, so a couple years ago. I think Lavine and D Rozan are still on that team. Well, that team’s barely below 500. The Mavericks are not going to get to 40 wins, I don’t think. The last time a team was this bad and was top five was the Wizards in 2013. They were 29 and 53. That team had John Wall, Bradley Beal, but Wall only played 49 games. Beal only played 56 games. They had other players like Martell Webster, Na Hilario, uh Trevor Riza, Amecha Okafor was on that team, but the Wizards were 30th in offense and uh and sixth in defense. That Wizards team, brutal. That’s That’s what the Mavericks profile is looking like right now. The team before that that was this bad on defense that finished that high. The 2011 Milwaukee Bucks were number three on defense. They finished 35 and 47. They were the number 30th offense in the NBA. That was They were 35 and 47. They had Andrew Bogen on that team, Brandon Jennings, John Salman’s, uh, Luke Rich Bamu was on that team. And I was like a fear of the deer back when Andrew Bogen was like the number one pick a while, you know, all that all those years ago. I mean, we’re going back that’s already back 14 years. This is historic what the Mavericks are doing. No, there’s not been a team that has been this low offensively, 30th, and this high defensively number two. I had to go back to the Wizards in 2013. They were 30th in offense, sixth in defense. Bucks were 30th in offense, fourth in defense in 2011. So those those teams, the gap is not even as wide as the Mavericks gap right now. 2005, the uh Chicago Bulls were 27th in offense, so not even as low as the Mavs, and they were number two in defense. That team finished 47 and 35. They lost in the first round in six games to the Wizards, the Gilbert Arena’s Wizards. But this Bulls team had our boy Tyson Chandler. They had Eddie Curry. They had Kirk Hinrich who was a good defender. Lu Al Dang was a long switching defender. And Antonio Davis. That’s way back in 2005. We’re talking 20 years ago. A team that was this high defensively and this low offensively. It just has not happened very much at all. There’s the other another team that finished very high defensively that did not have a a winning record was the Miami Heat in 2002. You’re like, this is the year before they got Dwayne Wade. They were number four in defense and they were 36 and 46. So, what the Mavericks are doing right now defensively is unprecedented because there’s not been a team this high defensively finish this bad or be this bad right now. We are watching a paradox and it’s only 19 games in. A lot can change throughout the end of the season. We’ll see if this defense holds up. If the Mavs trade Anthony Davis, that’ll be a big thing. We’ll see what happens with that. But I just wanted to go through and say that this team is unprecedented what they’re doing right now. Absolutely wild to watch this Mavs defense be as good as they are and the team to be as bad as they are. Has not happened very much at all. The Mavs, there’s a couple other teams that were So last year Orlando was 26th in offense and second in defense. That one’s kind of close. 2017 Hawks were 26th in offense, fourth in defense, and the 2016 Pacers were 26th in offense, third in defense. Again, I have not given an example that is 30th in offense, and second in defense. Wild to watch. Something to watch and monitor going forward. Thanks for hanging out with us on Locked on Mavs. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. We’ll have postgames this weekend for both of the games. So, come back and join us then, guys. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Mabs. Peace out. Boom.

The Dallas Mavericks’ defense is currently ranked number two in the NBA, showcasing a remarkable transformation this season. Can the Mavs sustain their top-tier defense with the likes of Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Kyrie Irving leading the charge, or is some of their defensive success simply three-point luck?

Nick Angstadt analyzes how the Dallas Mavericks, anchored by Cooper Flagg and supported by rising stars like Dereck Lively II, have climbed the NBA’s defensive rankings, even as their offense lags behind. He breaks down the impact of Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, Naji Marshall, and more. Hear in-depth discussion on lineup combinations, the roles of D’Angelo Russell and other contributors, and how the Mavs match up defensively against teams such as the Thunder, Clippers, and Pelicans.

Don’t miss out on the latest insights on Cooper Flagg and the Mavs defense, updates on Anthony Davis’ return, and how Kyrie Irving fits into the Mavericks’ NBA aspirations! Subscribe for daily Dallas Mavericks and NBA updates, breakdowns, and player analysis all season long.

0:00 Mavericks’ Defense: Real or Luck?
10:15 Defensive Strategies & Transition Excellence
20:07 Cooper Flagg’s Impact & Historic Defense Context

Locked On Mavs TEXT LINE: Support the show and get texts from Nick & Isaac on every Mavs Rumors, News Updates, Game Previews, Q&As, & More…
📲 https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonmavs
📲 TEXT: 214-643-8637

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-mavericks/

🎧 Apple https://buff.ly/2nE23zM
🎧 Spotify https://buff.ly/2D9kZgK
🎧 YouTube Music https://buff.ly/3LCb3gh
🎧 Pocket Casts https://pca.st/bPVO
🎧 Overcast https://buff.ly/34r6SOi
🎧 Castbox https://buff.ly/4bAM0EL
🎧 Audible https://buff.ly/3SjqZZm
🎧 Himalaya http://bit.ly/2pS463P
🎧 Audacy https://bit.ly/2SydQib

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

📲 Follow Locked On Mavs on Twitter – https://twitter.com/LockedOnMavs

📲 Follow Locked On Mavs on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lockedonmavs

📲 Follow Locked On Mavs on TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@lockedonmavericks

📲 Isaac Harris Twitter https://twitter.com/IsaacLHarris
📲 Nick Angstadt Twitter https://twitter.com/NickVanExit
📲 Nick Angstadt TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@nickvanexit
📲 Nick Angstadt Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nickvanexit

📢 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! | Offers from our sponsors: lockedonpodcasts.com/offers

OLIPOPGet a free can of OLIPOP! Just buy any two cans in store and they’ll reimburse you for one. Head to drinkolipop.com/LOCKEDONNBA to claim your free can and find OLIPOP near you.

SKIMSShop SKIMS Mens at SKIMS.com/lockedonnba. Let them know we sent you! After you place your order, select “podcast” in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.  

OpenPhoneStreamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at www.openphone.com/lockedonnba

WayFairGive your home the refresh it needs with Wayfair. Head to Wayfair.com right now. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.

Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#CooperFlagg #AnthonyDavis #KyrieIrving #DallasMavericks #Dallas #NBA #Mavericks #Mavs #DallasMavs #MFFL