All you have to do is look at the numbers to confirm coach Rick Carlisle's belief that the Mavericks win when they play good defense.

"In our wins, our defensive numbers are among the best in the league," Carlisle said. "In our losses, they stink. I don't have the first nine games memorized, but they stunk, for the most part.

"[Since then], we've had to adjust, and we by no means feel like we have anything figured out. But we're a different team than we were the first nine.

"I'm going to keep talking about defense until the cows come home."

Over the last 21 games, when the Mavericks started playing better, they were 6-5 when the opponent shot 45 percent or better from the field; they were 10-0 when opponents shot below 45 percent.