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Mavericks-Wizards Preview

Jan 20, 2010 - 3:38 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Dallas (27-14) at Washington (14-26), 7:00 p.m. EDT

The Dallas Mavericks realize that defense will be the key to their success this season. That's exactly what has helped the Washington Wizards lately.

The Southwest Division-leading Mavericks on Wednesday night try to split the season series with the Wizards, who are looking for their first three-game winning streak in nearly two years.

Dallas (27-14) held its first 10 opponents this season to 42.8 percent shooting and 92.8 points per game, but during a seven-game stretch from Jan. 3-17, Mavericks' opponents hit 50.9 percent and averaged 106.6.

"We talked about our defense, or our lack of defensive effort over the past two weeks," Dirk Nowitzki told the teams' official Web site after scoring 37 points in Monday's 99-90 victory in Boston. "I think we really started the season off well defensively and I think we had a couple of setbacks over the past couple weeks and had teams shoot high percentages and score a lot of points against us and I think with this team it starts defensively."

After limiting the Celtics to 40 second-half points, the Mavericks continue their season-high five-game trip against a resurgent Wizards team trying to win three in a row for the first time since April 4-9, 2008.

Since leading scorer Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Jan. 6 for bringing guns into the Verizon Center, Washington (14-26) is 3-5, with only one of the losses by more than 12 points.

"I think it has to do with the fact that we understand what we got now," Mike Miller said after returning from a right calf injury in Monday's 97-92 win over Portland. "We don't know if he'll be back or when he'll be back. We understand this is what we got in the locker room, we've got to make the most of it, and we're playing better right now."

That's definitely been the case on the defensive end. The Wizards are among the worst in the Eastern Conference in scoring defense at 102.7 points per game, but they have held their last two opponents to an average of 89.0.

"Defensive, we've had more energy at times, we've been better on the ball I think because of our ability to play a lot of zone," coach Flip Saunders said after Tuesday's practice. "We've really been able to control the tempo of the game with our defense."

Washington, which is 2-0 on a six-game homestand, held the Mavericks to 39.5 percent shooting in a 102-91 victory in Dallas on Oct. 27. Arenas led the Wizards with 29 points and nine assists.

"We'll have to play like we played in Dallas," Saunders said. "We controlled the tempo of the game. We did a nice job defensively on Nowitzki."

Nowitzki scored 34, but missed 15 of 25 shots. He is averaging 25.6 points and 11.0 rebounds over his last five games in the nation's capital.

Jason Kidd has scored nine points on 4-of-21 shooting in his last three games against Washington, but is averaging 9.3 assists in those contests.

Antawn Jamison, who played for Dallas in 2003-04, faces the Mavericks for the first time since last season after missing October's matchup with a shoulder injury. He is averaging 23.2 points and 9.0 boards in his last five games versus Dallas.

The Mavericks have scored fewer than 100 points in five straight games for the first time since an eight-game stretch from Feb. 8-24, 2008.