Doncic, Bertans to miss start of critical five-game road trip

The Dallas Mavericks left Friday on a five-game West Coast road trip. Unfortunately, they departed without their most precious cargo – Luka Doncic.

Doncic did not make the trip West because he’s dealing with a right heel contusion suffered in the third quarter of Thursday’s 111-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Doncic and forward Davis Bertans each didn’t practice Friday and each player underwent an MRI.

Coach Jason Kidd said neither player will be a part of this upcoming road trip and that their status will be known later after he get the results of the MRI. Bertans was injured against the Pelicans as he sustained a left calf strain in the second quarter.

“We’ll see how that turns out, then we’ll be able to give an update,” Kidd said following Friday’s practice. “No participation, nor will those two go on the trip.

“As we get the MRI, I think we’ll be able to give an update on their status.”

The Mavs start their trip Saturday in San Francisco against the defending world champion Golden State Warriors. Then they play in Utah on Monday, in Los Angeles against the Clippers on Wednesday, and wind up the trip with a pair of games on back-to-back nights in Sacramento on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11.

The injury to Doncic obviously is a big blow to a Mavs’ squad that is seeded fourth in the Western Conference standings. Overall, the Mavs are 0-6 without Doncic this season, but that comes with a caveat.

Back on Jan. 26, Doncic sprained his left ankle less than four minutes into the Mavs’ game in Phoenix. But with Spencer Dinwiddie scoring 36 points and distributing nine assists, the Mavs had enough gumption to defeat the Suns, 99-95.

However, two days later in Utah with Doncic still sidelined, the Jazz upended the Mavs, 108-100, although Dinwiddie contributed 35 points and eight assists. But when Doncic went out for good against the Pelicans with 6:47 remaining in the third quarter and Dallas ahead, 84-56, the Pelicans shaved 25 points off that deficit and got within 109-106 of the Mavs in the game’s waning seconds before Dallas was able to pull out the victory.

Now, the Mavs will have to find some consistency while going five consecutive games without Doncic, and that could be challenging.

“We just did it and we had a little success there in the first game, then we had some success in that second game in the second half. But it’s just a matter of everyone staying connected, staying together.

“We didn’t play well offensively in last night’s game. We had some great looks that just didn’t go down, but knowing when Luka is out – when he might return, might not return – I thought the guys did a good job of holding on and finding a way to win last night’s game.”

And because they were able to withstand that rally against the Pelicans sans Doncic, the Mavs believe they have the wherewithal to hold their own on this road trip.

“We’ve got to figure it out,” forward Dorian Finney-Smith said. “It’s going to take a team effort. We know what (Doncic) brings to the table, but we’re fully capable in this locker room to get wins on this road trip.

“For me, I know I have to be a little bit more aggressive offensively because Luka is not in the game. And we’ve got to play a little bit more faster to create more easy shots, because he does all the creating and helping guys out. Everybody as a team, we feel like we’ve got to do a little bit more now that Luka’s not playing.”

At some point on this five-game road trip, the Mavs will receive some ammunition with the return of center Christian Wood, who has missed the past seven games while nursing a fractured left thumb. Wood said he will either play in Monday’s game against Utah or Wednesday’s contest against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Wood said his biggest obstacle while being sidelined is keeping his conditioning up to try to stay in game shape and try to keep his rhythm.

“I actually looked at it as I got some rest during this little break,” Wood said. “I’m rejuvenated. I’m probably about to be faster than everybody else.”

The Mavs’ second-leading scorer at 18.4 points per game, Wood also averages 8.4 rebounds and a team-high 1.3 blocks per contest. The eight-year veteran is trying to get back in the groove after not playing since a 130-122 home loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 18 when he collected 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

“That will be a great piece to add without Luka playing,” Finney-Smith said of Wood. “But we’re fully capable to get some wins. All we can do is play hard and it’ll give us a good chance to win if we just play defense.

“Spencer is going to do what he has to do. He has to be more aggressive knowing Luka is not playing, and that goes for everybody. Everybody is going to have to probably be a little bit more aggressive without LD out there creating shots for us and making it easy for us.”

Getting their fair share of the 50-50 balls, Finney-Smith said, will also be a key on this road trip.

“All of them little plays, we’ve got to have all them,” he said. “Again, we don’t have the top three player in the league playing right now.

“We’ve got to make up for it, and those little plays like that are going to mean a lot, especially when we need all the advantages we can get.”

Doncic is second in the NBA in scoring (33.4), fifth in assists (8.2), 11^th in steals (1.5), and also averages 8.9 rebounds per game. In other words, he carries an extremely heavy load for the Mavs.

“You can’t fill Luka’s shoes, so other guys are going to have to step up, other guys are going to get minutes,” Kidd said. “This is a great opportunity for Josh (Green) and (rookie Jaden) Hardy to get some minutes here playing the point guard. Frank (Ntilikina) will get back into the rotation.

“It’s all hands on deck. It’s not an easy road trip.”

WOOD (ALMOST) READY TO GO: Center Christian Wood said it’s been difficult watching the Mavs play while he sat the past seven games nursing a fractured left thumb.

“But at the same time, when you’re sitting and watching you can learn some things,” Wood said. “You can see what we need to work on – rebounding, rim protection and things of that matter.

“So I can watch and see what we can get better at and try to improve and help the team.”

With Luka Doncic (right heel contusion) and Davis Bertans (left calf strain) not on this five-game road trip due to injuries, Wood believes the Mavs have enough on their roster to successfully compete with the teams on this trip.

“I think we have a good group of guys that can come together,” he said. “You’ve seen what Spencer (Dinwiddie) can do, especially on the road what he did in Phoenix for us.”

Wood went through a few more five-on-five games at practice Friday just to test his thumb some more.

“You want to see – like today – see if it gets hit and I’m still fine and be able to play on it,” Wood said. “It’s not bothering me for me to go again, bothering me catching the ball, bothering me dribbling the ball.

“I’m ready to go.”

BRIEFLY: Since Friday was Feb. 2, 2023 – as is 2/3/23 — ESPN decided to do a segment on who is the greatest NBA player of all-time, particularly since Michael Jordan wore number 23 for the majority of his career. The other top candidate is LeBron James, who is scheduled to past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar next week and become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. When asked who is the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time) in his opinion, Mavs coach Jason Kidd didn’t stutter. “I’m going to go with LeBron,” Kidd said. “The things that he’s accomplished on and off the floor maybe there will never be anyone who will surpass the scoring title. It’s going to be a tough one. If we’re not careful he’s going to keep playing to go after John Stockton’s assist record.” Stockton is tops on the all-time assist chart with 15,803, followed by Kidd (12,091), Chris Paul (11,299) and James (10,345). “He’s going to run right past me,” Kidd said, while laughing. “He’s going to play another 10 years.” Kidd was an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Lakers when James and company won the 2020 NBA title. “He has the total package when you talk about being able to score, knowing when to score, knowing when to take over the scoring, knowing how to set the table for his teammates, rebounding, steals, blocks,” Kidd said. “When you look at what he’s accomplished here of late, it’s incredible. Maybe Father Time is LeBron. Probably just one person who can beat him is probably him.”. .Saturday will be the Mavs’ first trip to San Francisco since they were eliminated in the Western Conference Finals in five games by the Warriors last season. It’s also their only trip to the Bay Area this season – unless they have another postseason matchup with the Warriors. “We know them,” forward Dorian Finney-Smith said. “We played them in the playoffs, so it’s going to be a tough game, especially going in their building. They always feed off that energy of their crowd, so we just got to go in there and stick together, because they’re going to throw in a bunch of wild shots and we got to stick together.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice