Entering Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference Playoff Series with the Houston Rockets, a big area of concern for the Dallas Mavericks was their rebounding.
However, Dallas responded with a solid performance on the glass in a 118-108 loss, outrebounding the Rockets 49-44.
"Yeah, the fact we were plus on the boards is a good sign," Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said after practice on Monday at American Airlines Center. "(Dwight) Howard was in foul trouble a lot, so in Game 2 he's going to be out there more, for more minutes most likely. But we're just going to have to keep battling the same way and our perimeter guys are going to have to help us in there."
Foul trouble limited Rockets big man Dwight Howard to just 11 points and five rebounds in 17 minutes, but Mavs big man Tyson Chandler, the game's top rebounder with 18, knows he and his teammates can't expect Howard to be on the bench so much in Game 2 on Tuesday night in Houston.
"I think we just got to do a better job overall of fixing little things. It's not necessarily when he's on or off the court. It's more about how we're affected by the little things they do out there," Chandler said. "We had some untimely, unlucky breaks as far as Corey Brewer came up with a couple loose balls and hit threes when we had the game really close. A couple fouls here and there. Little things. And turnovers, too, that we have to stay away from."
One of those little things which Carlisle and Chandler both speak of is turnovers.
Dallas committed 17 turnovers compared to 13 by the Rockets, who lead the series 1-0, and cutting down those miscues and the resulting points to Houston is a definite key to the Mavs leveling the series in Game 2.
"Of the 17 turnovers, 10 or 12 were unforced, so we got to bring that number down. We do that, it'll reduce their points off turnovers and that's an equalizer," Carlisle said. "But there's a lot of areas where we had little slippages and all those things add up to a big number, so we got to tighten it up in a lot of areas for Game 2."
Another area where the Mavs need to be better in Game 2 is in how they start the game and the second half. Dallas trailed Houston 32-19 at the end of the first quarter and 59-45 at halftime.
That lead shrunk to seven after three quarters at 74-67 but still, Carlisle wants to see marked improvement from his team in Game 2 in that respect.
"Definitely important, we got off to a poor start really in beginning of both halves and heading into the second game, we got to do better," Carlisle said.
Game 2 tips at 8:30 PM CT from the Toyota Center in Houston.
