Rick Carlisle isn’t Steve Kerr or Gregg Popovich. He isn’t wonderboy coach Brad Stevens.
Not the coach of a championship contender, and not in his late 30s, Carlisle doesn’t have the present moment or the future on his side.
Yet, if Wednesday night’s victory by his Dallas Mavericks over the Houston Rockets reaffirmed a single truth in the NBA, it’s that Carlisle is one of the top four head coaches in the league.
Terry Stotts of Portland has a strong case to make for being the 2016 NBA Coach of the Year. Mike Budenholzer of Atlanta and Erik Spoelstra of Miami are certainly top-10 coaches in the Association. Steve Clifford of Charlotte has been the best Eastern Conference coach not named Brad Stevens. All those claims can hold up under scrutiny. Meanwhile, Rick Carlisle — not even guaranteed a playoff spot after the Mavs’ triumph over the Rockets — has somehow kept Dallas together.
No DeAndre Jordan for the whole season — thanks a lot, Clippers.
No Chandler Parsons for a considerable portion of the season.
No Deron Williams over the past several days.
No abundant presence of youthful legs or rising stars.
Carlisle has been swimming in a vast sea of limitations all season long, and his Mavs face a tough four-game stretch to close their season, while the Utah Jazz and (especially) the Houston Rockets enjoy comparatively favorable schedules. Dallas might have to win in Utah — a daunting prospect — to get into the postseason. Carlisle could be sitting here a week from now with a tee time to look forward to, and not a first-round series against San Antonio or Golden State.
Nevertheless, even if that golf course scenario comes to pass, Carlisle will still have done a remarkable job in Big D. Just consider what the Mavericks achieved on Wednesday against a fierce in-state rival from Houston.
Deron Williams was out, severely reducing the Mavericks’ offensive firepower against an opponent with James Harden.
Within the flow of this game (what little flow there was, to be more precise), Dirk Nowitzki gained only eight shot attempts, en route to a meager seven-point performance. If this was supposed to be a Texas-style gunfight, the Mavericks brought a knife to it. When you then realize that Dallas scored exactly 18 points in three of the four quarters in this game, the idea of the Mavs eclipsing the Rockets seemed that much more absurd.
Yet, the Mavericks scored 34 points in their one non-18-point quarter. They forged an eight-point halftime lead (52-44) on the basis of that quarter. They scored only 36 points after halftime… but they defended their basket with the desperation of a team which knew it had to win Game 78, given the nature of the schedule in Games 79 through 82.
James Harden was not terrifically effective on Wednesday, finishing with an 8-of-22 shooting line from the field while committing six turnovers. Yet, he scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to do his part for the Rockets, a team eternally pinballing between an impressive win here and a humbling loss there.
All Harden needed was a modicum of help in that final period, but he didn’t get it. His teammates went 1-of-11 from the field in the fourth quarter, and since the Rockets couldn’t get to the foul line against the defensive discipline of Dallas, Houston posted just 15 points in that quarter. Such has been the nature of the Rockets’ season — and really, of the franchise in the Harden era: Not needing anything spectacular, merely something solid and sustained, this ever-erratic bunch couldn’t deliver.
How different it was — and has been — for Dallas under Rick Carlisle and the backup guard who carried the Mavs on Wednesday, J.J. Barea.
It was five years ago that Barea became the X factor in the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat. Dirk got the MVP award in that series, but without Barea’s slippery small-man game — which injected relentless aggression and shotmaking into the Mavericks’ arsenal — Dallas would not have won that series, certainly not Game 5 at home.
Barea is in many ways the consummate Carlisle-era player. Very much a survivor in the league, Barea has willed himself to become as valuable as he’s been. His game might not be slick, his skill set less than fully imposing, but he beats defenders to spots and makes his presence felt often enough to matter in moments of consequence. This vintage version of Barea was entirely on display Wednesday night.
The pint-sized Puerto Rican outscored Harden, 27-26. In the fourth quarter when Harden went off for 12 points, Barea was right there with the Houston superstar, scoring 10 on 4-of-6 shooting. Filling in for Deron Williams and presiding over a slower-paced Dallas offense, Barea hit 10-of-16 field goals and coughed up only two turnovers in his 37 minutes. He, not Harden, was the best player on the floor in this game.
He gave Rick Carlisle everything… and Carlisle once again walked away with a meaningful late-season victory over an opponent with more talent.
*
Once more, the Mavericks might still miss the playoffs. They could easily go 2-2 or 1-3 in their last four games while Houston goes 4-0 and Utah goes 3-1.
Yet, when the 2016 Mavericks recall this season 15, 20 or 30 years from now, they’ll marvel at how they exceeded their capabilities.
The Rockets will still fail to comprehend how much potential they wasted.
Playoffs or not, golf course or not, “Mavericks 88, Rockets 86” is a game which revealed so much about two franchises, a Puerto Rican point guard, and a coach who remains one of the four best in the NBA.
Resource-poor except for his guile, he’s still a cut above: Rick Carlisle.
