Methods To The Madness

An NBA game plan is mainly about defense, more specifically about defending two things: the pick-and-roll (usually but not always involving guards) and post-ups (usually but not always involving big men). "Some teams, like Charlotte , run more shooters off screens than they run pick-and-rolls," says Prunty . "But, of course, it's all about personnel. Everybody runs pick-and-rolls, but not everybody has Nash ."

By Sunday morning, after weighing the intelligence from Prunty and the other assistants, Johnson makes a general decision: The Mavs will start basic. They'll try to fight through pick-and-rolls or make conventional switches rather than trying to aggressively double-team. They want to make a statement that they are the team with a league-best 61--11 record, and that it's the 54--18 Suns who will have to do the adjusting. "We've overthought this team in the past," says sixth man Jerry Stackhouse .

But the Mavericks know that they will have to add wrinkles as the game unfolds. Specifically, they have had some success "blacking" Nash --that is, forcing him away from the center of the court by doubling him on the pick-and-roll. Plus, though they will start with 6'2" Jason Terry on the 6'3" Nash , they know that 6'7" defensive stalwart Josh Howard will eventually guard him, using his height to limit Nash 's extraordinary range of vision.

Though the Dallas coaches have looked through piles and piles of paper--they can tell you how many times, say, Nash dribbles to his left and pulls up and how many times he continues to the basket--they will give each player only one sheet, which summarizes the tendencies of every Sun. "We find left-behind reports all the time," says assistant Del Harris . "Players should be able to remember these things, anyway."

The Suns' Plan

Thirty minutes after Phoenix dusted off Denver , guard Raja Bell headed home for a couple hours of TiVo 'd programming. Normally it's CSI; tonight it's the Mavs- Knicks game.

"I started thinking about Dallas as soon as this one was over," says Bell. "Right now my own game plan is all about my principals and their tendencies. When Jason Terry is coming off a screen-roll to his right hand, you must have your big [a Suns forward or center] up. You can't just let him step into the pocket and shoot a jump shot. And he likes to go right. With Dirk [Nowitzki], you can't play off him. You have to stay up underneath him because he's all about footwork and balance. [Guard] Devin Harris likes to go to the basket."

At the same time that Bell is replaying the game, a bleary-eyed Iavaroni is in the middle of his film study at home. Like Prunty , Iavaroni had responsibility for a team on Friday night, and because he's known for watching more film than Scorsese, says, "I'm going to look like hell tomorrow morning."

And he does, when the coaches gather in their upstairs office to assemble their game plan. Iavaroni is thrown a curveball when coach Mike D'Antoni says that he's going to start guard Leandro Barbosa instead of forward Boris Diaw . While the Mavs' season has been a study in stability--few injuries, consistent play, a set rotation--the Suns have undergone several tweaks, all done in an effort to catch the Mavs in the Western Conference race and stay ahead of the San Antonio Spurs.

Although the lineup change has a domino effect on defensive assignments-- Marion will now start out guarding Nowitzki--the Suns' major game-plan questions and answers remain the same: How can they limit Nowitzki? (By stunting, or giving different looks with their double teams.) Whom can they leave open when they double-team? (Definitely Harris , and definitely not Nowitzki or Terry.) What do they do when Stackhouse enters the game? (Keep him out of his favored left corner.)