By DWAIN PRICE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS - Playing defense used to be a foreign part of the game for the Mavericks.

Not anymore.

Knowing full well that relying solely on a jackrabbit offense is not the ideal recipe for winning championships, the Mavericks have collectively decided that getting familiar with and possessing a stout defense probably is the most direct route to winning an NBA crown. That blueprint has been used by many championship teams, from the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys of 1989 and '90, to the six titles the Chicago Bulls won during the 1990s.

Sometime in the past three weeks, the notion finally clicked in the Mavericks' heads that teams who don't walk away with their bodies scarred don't walk away with NBA titles.