March 19, 2009

Need Rebounds? Get Josh Back

While the Dallas Mavericks have shown capable of finding answers for Josh's missing offense, it's becoming evident just how difficult No.5's rebounding and defense are to replace.

In the month of February, Josh played all 12 games and the Mavs were arguably playing their best basketball. During that month, Dallas played six of the NBA's top teams, and managed to go 8-4 with two impressive victories over the Portland Trailblazers and the Orlando Magic.

Josh averaged five rebounds for the month of February, equal to that of his overall season average. No. 5's rebounding numbers are down this season compared to last year's career-best seven boards per game.

The Mavericks could really use Josh crashing the boards (Getty Images).

Regardless, without their starting swingman, the Mavs must play small-ball and opposing teams are taking advantage.

Here is a numbers comparison between the month of February and the last five games Josh has missed.

FEBRUARY (8-4):

  • Mavs total rebounds per game: 41.6
  • Opponents total rebounds per game: 41.2
  • Mavs/opponents rebounding differential: (+.4)
  • Opponents offensive rebounds per game: 10
  • Opponents points per game: 100.4

MARCH/LAST FIVE GAMES WITHOUT JOSH (3-2):

  • Mavs total rebounds per game: 42.8
  • Opp. total rebounds per game: 45.4
  • Mavs/opponents rebounding differential: (-2.6)
  • Opp. offensive rebounds per game: 14
  • Opp. points per game: 106.6

Without No. 5, Dallas has gone from having a slight rebounding edge (+0.4) to a deficit of 2.6 rebounds per game, a swing of three boards per contest. What's more, the Mavericks are actually giving up an additional four rebounds on the offensive glass during the same stretch. 

All those extra rebounds are turning into nearly six more points per game for Dallas' opponents. Take the recent victory over the Detroit Pistons -- Dallas allowed 27 second-chance points and 17 offensive rebounds. Those boards contributed to the Pistons' 44 points in the paint compared to 24 for the Mavs.

The Mavs barely escaped against an injury-plagued Pistons team to go 1-2 in their last three games. During that stretch, they have been outrebounded on the whole by 9, 9, and 10 boards, and allowed offensive rebound totals of 17,14,and 19.

Without Josh and Devean George, who is also injured, J.J Barea is playing a significant number of increased minutes as a starting lineup. At 5'11,” Barea leaves Dallas vulnerable down low and out on the perimeter. Dallas not only misses Josh's size, but his athleticism as well. The lack of those two components has forced the team to go small and play zone.

"Everybody knows that rebounding is a big weakness of the zone. That's not a secret," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Our little guys have to go in there and box some of the big guys out. Usually, you attack a zone by having a big guy in the high post. Once a shot goes up, those little guys have to do a good job of getting to those big guys' legs and not letting them get a running start and killing us on the glass.”

"I think it's a little bit of everybody. We've got to get the job done together on the glass."

RELATED STORIES
Dallas Mavericks sputter past short-handed Pistons, 103-101 (Dallas Morning News, Mar. 18, 2009)
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Mavs must solve rebounding riddle (Dallas Morning News, Mar. 18, 2009)
http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/03/mavs-must-solve-reboundi...