The Mavericks will welcome back some fans to American Airlines Center starting Monday and count coach Rick Carlisle as a big supporter of the type of fans that will be on hand.
The Mavericks announced Friday that essential workers such as frontline medical personnel, police and firefighters and select others will be offered seats starting Monday against Minnesota.
“My understanding is it’s front-line healthcare workers and folks that have had at least one dose of the vaccine,” Carlisle said Saturday. “Most of those folks are healthcare workers.
“So I think it’s great. It’s a nice reward for really important work that’s being done. Plus, there’s a layer of protection with the vaccine. If we’re going to start letting fans back into the building, these are the right people under the right circumstances.”
Film review: Before the game, Carlisle gave some clarification on why he had the team watch the third quarter film of Thursday’s blowout loss to the Warriors in the locker room right after the game.
A big part of it was timing, he said.
“It wasn’t the entire quarter, it was the defense of the quarter,” Carlisle said. “Part of it was a look at what our time situation was for the next two days, knowing that we would be off on Friday and having a shootaround prep on Saturday. I felt it was something to get out of the way immediately, and look at it and everyone own it and understand where we got to be better.”
It was a rare occurrence.
“I haven’t done postgame video in quite a few years,” he said. “I may have done it a couple other times in my career, but not very often.”
G-League clarification: The Mavericks don’t have the luxury of sending their young players to Frisco to play with the Texas Legends this season.
The G-League is having an abbreviated season in a bubble situation at Walt Disney World near Orlando.
There are 18 teams playing and while the Legends aren’t involved, the Mavericks are sending three players to other teams that are at the bubble.
Carlisle explained the logistics on Saturday as two-way players Tyler Bey and Nate Hinton will play for the Long Island Nets and second-round pick Tyrell Terry will play for the Memphis Hustle.
“Al Whitley is general manager of our G-League team and I believe part of the negotiation was a minimum number of minutes per game,” Carlisle said. “We don’t want guys going to a G-League situation if they’re not going to play. With the ability to carry 17 guys, it’s almost impossible to get decent minutes for 15 of them, let alone 17.”
He said that the ability to get players back to Dallas in a timely fashion also made the decision to utilize the G-League bubble easier.
“This is a great opportunity,” Carlisle said. “It’s not that long of a stint, and so on many levels it makes a lot of sense. And if something happens and we need someone to come back, it’s a two-day test (to clear protocols) back into our situation. And that’s pretty good.”
In tribute: Carlisle is reading a passage each day commemorating Black History Month. On Saturday, the subject was heavyweight boxing legend Joe Louis, who helped end segregation in the U.S. armed forces by serving in the army during World War II.
“Although there was no desire among military and political leaders to integrate the armed forces, they understood the need to appeal to African-Americans and, even more importantly to portray America as a unified country against Nazi tyranny, regardless of what the truth at home was,” Carlisle said. “To this end, Louis was given the role of good-will ambassador.
Twitter: @ESefko
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