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DALLAS — Over the past week, the Dallas Mavericks have climbed from 30th to 25th in defensive rebounding, Mavericks coach Dusty May said after practice Wednesday. Dallas is 7-4 and has won three straight going into Thursday’s game at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In Monday’s 125-122 win over the Indiana Pacers, the Mavericks outrebounded Indiana 57-40 and grabbed 33 defensive rebounds. The Pacers finished with 1 offensive rebound.
“It’s being able to pressure and not get broken down,” May said. “If our defense is broken down, it’s gonna leave a guard blocking out a big. But also too, I think we were 30th a week ago and now we’re 25th. So we’ve moved up five spots. And obviously after 11 games, you can make some big jumps if you really focus on it.”
“We don’t have elite rebounders,” May continued. “And some teams have to develop that as a group … we’ve seen great growth in our rebounding on the defensive end. Now conversely, we’re one of the best offensive rebounding teams. So it’s in us, we’ve just got to make sure that we’re more focused on defensive rebounding.”
Dusty May On Perimeter Players Leaking Out Early
Through 11 games, Dallas is averaging 12.5 offensive rebounds and 32.1 defensive rebounds per game, according to Basketball Reference. Last season, the Mavericks averaged 34.2 defensive rebounds on the way to a 26-56 finish.
Center Dereck Lively II has not played this season. Daniel Gafford has started all 11 games and is averaging 5.5 rebounds in 21.9 minutes.
“Earlier in the year, we had several of our perimeter guys,” May said. “They were anticipating the rebound and they were getting out into transition offense before we had the ball secured. And that really hurt us and was a big reason for the numbers. But we are getting better and … we have to be trending in the right direction as we progress through the season.”
P.J. Washington Ties Rebounding To Defensive Pressure
P.J. Washington leads the Mavericks with 7.6 rebounds per game. He had 9 on Monday, including the defensive rebound of a missed Indiana 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, and was fouled right after.
“Defensive rebounding is an area we need to improve,” Washington said. “I feel like defensively, when we pressure teams, I feel like our defense is one of the best in the league. But when we don’t pressure teams, that leads to us being lackadaisical and teams scoring is easy. So for us, I think it’s just pressuring teams and trying to set the tone on that.”
Dallas ranks 10th in the NBA in defensive rating at 111.2, per Basketball Reference. On Monday, the Mavericks trailed Indiana by as many as 13 points and by 10 at halftime before outscoring the Pacers 69-56 after the break.
“Sharing the ball, cheering for each other, and just sticking to it and keep playing through any game, no matter if we’re down 20 or up 20,” Washington explained. “I think we do a good job of just playing no matter who he is, who’s out there, and who is in the game. So I think it’s just being us.”
Minnesota center Rudy Gobert is averaging 12.1 rebounds, including 3.9 on the offensive glass. Tip-off Thursday at Target Center is set for 7 p.m. CT.
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