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Avery Johnson blew into town preaching discipline and defense. Those remain bedrock principles of his system.

But listen closely and you will hear him talk almost as much about offense these days. Is the Mavericks coach tempted to discard his defensive identity and go to the other side?

Not yet. But he has evolved.

Johnson has had to evolve as a coach because this team looks nothing like the one he had to open the season. If the Mavericks clung to the same, paint-by-the-numbers approach to offense they displayed before Jason Kidd's arrival, this team never would have beaten Utah on Thursday night.

The Mavericks weren't going to win this game with defensive tenacity in the stretch, not with Deron Williams exhibiting once again why he's one of the league's best young players. It needed offense to beat the Jazz.

The Mavericks scored 97 points against a Utah team that held New Orleans to 66 points and San Antonio to 64 points in its last two games. And they did that with only three points from Josh Howard (bruised knee) and no points from Jerry Stackhouse, who missed his seventh consecutive game with a groin strain.

The Mavericks have averaged 104 points in April and scored 100 or more points in seven of the last nine games.

"I think we have an identity now," Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. "We've always wanted to be a running team, an up-tempo team. Now, it's finally kicked in over the last two weeks. That's how we have to play to win."

Dirk Nowitzki won this game with 32 points and a cold-blooded 3-pointer in the final second. But there was more.

A Mavericks team that has been troubled by its fourth quarter execution against quality opponents scored 30 points in the final period by getting out in transition and attacking the basket. This team of jump shooters shot 10 free throws in the final period because they moved the ball and didn't settle for jumpers.

Terry, who didn't score in the first half, finished with 21 points. Thirteen of those came in the final period.

"He really mixed it up," Johnson said. "We really needed him. He carried us there offensively for awhile."

Johnson had the chance to visit with his college coach recently. Ben Jobe wasn't known for his defensive mindset. In Johnson's words, Jobe doesn't even know what a closeout is.

But the Mavericks coach has now adopted part of Jobe's philosophy.

"You've got to be able to score," Johnson said. "As much as I love defense, you've got to be able to score.

"We can try to stop these teams all you want, but you've got to be able to score. You've got a 10-point lead going into the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, just keep on scoring more than anything and you have a shot."

The Mavericks never had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. But they kept pushing. They weren't predictable, and that paid off, especially on the final shot.

"It was a great example of getting a couple of stops, then getting out and running, looking for early opportunities, not letting the defense just sit on our half-court offense," Terry said. "In the past, that's where teams have really come back on us.

"We've learned from it, and I think we're a much better team in that situation."