DALLAS -- Rajon Rondo dutifully answered questions about his offensive aggression Monday night, explaining how and why he attacked off the dribble during his 19-point performance.

But Rondo's interest level seemed to rise when the discussion turned to Dallas' defense.

"Our focus is a lot more on the defensive end of the floor," Rondo said after the Mavs' 102-93 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. "Offense never wins championships. Scoring 108 or whatever we were scoring means nothing if you're giving up 105 or 110.

Rajon Rondo scored 15 points in the first half Monday against the Pelicans. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

"I've been trying to preach defense and get on the same page defensively as a team and just string continuous stops together. Not just trading baskets, getting two or three stops in a row, and that's what we did tonight to open up a lead in the second half."

Defense was indeed the difference for the Mavs despite center Tyson Chandler wearing a suit and watching from the sideline for the third consecutive game.

Rondo uncharacteristically carved up the Pelicans for 15 points in the first half -- almost doubling his Dallas scoring average for an entire game -- and it still wasn't enough to give the Mavs a lead at the break. That's because New Orleans knocked down 9-of-17 3-point attempts.

Things changed drastically in the third quarter. Perhaps it helped that the Pelicans were wrapping up a back-to-back after playing in Denver the previous night, but the Mavs tightened the defensive screws something fierce in the frame, holding New Orleans to 13 points on 5-of-19 shooting. The Mavs seized the lead with a 16-0 run and never let New Orleans regain it.

"We came out of the locker room with a lot of fire, a lot of attitude and some real disposition," coach Rick Carlisle said. "The bottom line is we've got to play an entire 48 that way."

Here's a dirty little secret: Dallas has actually developed into a pretty darn good defensive team.

Since getting lit up for 128 points in a Feb. 4 loss at Golden State, the Mavs rank seventh in the NBA in defensive rating, giving up an average of 98.5 points per 100 possessions. That's despite their best defensive guard (Rondo) and their defensive anchor (Chandler) missing significant stretches due to injury during that span.

The Mavs have allowed opponents to shoot 34.2 percent from 3-point range since Stephen Curry's 51-point explosion against them. That's about average, which is a remarkable improvement from their historically awful perimeter defense before shipping out Jameer Nelson as part of the package that returned Rondo.

The personnel upgrade at point guard has helped, but it doesn't explain how the Mavs managed to put together some pretty good defensive performances while Rondo recovered from facial fractures.

"Guys are understanding what we need to accomplish," reserve guard Devin Harris said. "Our help-side defense is impacted. We've always had Tyson in the middle, but I think we're doing a better job of closing the gaps, forcing people to shoot more jump shots, forcing skip passes and things that we've been emphasizing all year long. I think guys are really honing in on that.

"It's just repetition. We go through it in practice. Punch it in enough and it will start to sink in. I think guys are really doing a great job of recognizing it and keeping it moving forward."

After a couple of days off, the Mavs face a road back-to-back against Portland and Golden State, a pair of potent offensive teams. If Dallas can keep it going defensively in those games, it'll really be evidence of improvement on that end of the floor.