Ryan Feldman 9y

What makes these Mavericks so good?

The Dallas Mavericks had far from their best offensive performance of the season in their overtime win against the New York Knicks, shooting only 40 percent from the field and 4-of-31 on 3-pointers -- their fewest 3-pointers and worst 3-point percentage in a game this season.

But that’s just one performance, which still resulted in a win by finding other ways to score other than 3-pointers (53 percent shooting inside the arc and a season-high 38 free-throw attempts). On Wednesday, that required 17 points and 25 rebounds from Tyson Chandler against his former team.

That performance doesn’t change what has been a dynamic offense this season that leads the league in offensive efficiency (114.5 points per 100 possessions).

It's worth noting if the Mavericks can keep up this super-fast pace for 82 games: The top seven most efficient offenses in NBA history all reached the Conference Finals.

How have the Mavericks been so efficient on offense?

Pick-and-Rolls

The Mavericks lead the NBA with 50 pick-and-roll plays per game and 52 points per game on pick-and-rolls(no other team averages more than 35). Nearly half (47 percent) of the Mavs offensive plays are initiated from pick-and-rolls.

They don’t just run a lot of pick-and-roll plays. They’re efficient at it -- the Mavs rank second in the league behind the Clippers in points per play on pick-and-rolls.

Monta Ellis is their main weapon, averaging 8.9 points per game on pick-and-rolls, which ranks second in the league behind Reggie Jackson. Ellis’ aggressiveness is one of the main reasons why the Mavs lead the league with 37 points per game off drives to the basket.

Turnovers

The Mavs have the third-fewest turnovers per game (11.4) and they’re forcing the second-most turnovers per game (17.9). Their +6.5 turnovers per game differential is best in the league.

Based on that, it’s no surprise that the Mavericks are capitalizing on those turnovers -- they rank first in points off turnovers per game (21.9) and they’re allowing the third-fewest points off turnovers per game (12.8). Their 9.1 points off turnovers per game differential is also the best in the league.

Dirk

Dirk Nowitzki, in his 17th season, has adopted a different role. He’s averaging his fewest minutes per game since his rookie season.

The Mavericks have Nowitzki playing outside more than inside this season, unlike in the past. He’s attempting his most 3-pointers per game since 2002-03 while shooting 39 percent from beyond the arc.

Playing further from the basket has hurt his rebounding numbers -- he is only averaging 5.6 rebounds per game, his fewest since his rookie season.

Last season, 35 percent of Nowitzki’s offense came from post-ups, compared to 21 percent from post-ups this season. On the other side, 42 percent of Nowitzki’s offense came from jump shots last season, and that number is up to 53 percent this season.

All of that has resulted in the most efficient player in the NBA. Nowitzki is leading the league in points per play among players with at least 150 plays this season.

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