Jason Kidd calls out Mavericks for letting Hawks have a 'shootaround' after giving up 130 points in loss

Dallas' defense has taken a turn for the worse this season, and it's been particularly bad lately

After the Dallas Mavericks' fifth loss in six games on Wednesday, a 130-122 defeat against the Atlanta Hawks, coach Jason Kidd identified the problem: "We're not playing any defense."

The Hawks scored 132.7 points per 100 possessions, and this was not an anomaly. In Dallas' preceding game, the Portland Trail Blazers had scored 142.9 points per 100 possessions. The Mavs surrendered at least 123.7 per 100 in each of those five losses. As a point of reference, the worst defense in the NBA this season has belonged to the San Antonio Spurs, who have allowed 118.8 per 100. 

"It's a shootaround," Kidd told reporters. "In this case, in this league, you do that, no matter if you have Luka or Kareem or LeBron, you're going to lose. It doesn't matter how many points you score, you're always going to be short. So until we put a better effort into playing defense and understanding what we have to do, then we're going to score 120 but we're going to give up 130, 140. One night, we might give up 150."

Kidd then turned sarcastic: "But we'll be fine because we scored, so it won't look too bad."

Dallas' defense ranked No 5 last season, a remarkable achievement for a team that was not loaded with All-Defense types. It has fallen to No. 25 this year, and it is not trending in the right direction. The Mavericks have become extremely foul-prone, given up more offensive rebounds and generally struggled to make their new pieces fit. Jalen Brunson was small, but he could get around screens effectively. JaVale McGee is enormous, but he forces Dallas to drop against pick-and-rolls. Christian Wood has been blocking shots lately, but Dallas' half-court defense has been particularly rough when he's been the lone big.

The good news is that some of the Mavericks' recent issues have been injury-related. The Hawks game was the first time Dorian Finney-Smith had been in the lineup since Dec. 21 and the first time Josh Green had been in the lineup since Dec. 10. Maxi Kleber, a natural frontcourt partner for Wood, told Bally Sports Southwest on Wednesday that he hopes to be back before the All-Star break, and perhaps as soon as next week. When a reporter asked Kidd what Dallas do to fix the defense besides getting healthier, he said it was a great question. 

"Well, if it's with this personnel, then you gotta keep asking or demanding for those guys to play defense," Kidd said. "It's not just the offensive end."

At 24-22, the Mavericks are fifth in the West. The standings are tight, though -- they are only 2.5 games ahead of the 12th-place Phoenix Suns.