SACRAMENTO – As he sat down behind a microphone for his pregame chat with media members, Jason Kidd started as he always does by ticking off the medical report.
It was a long sound byte.
“Bear with me here,” he said. “Luka, Exum, Lively, Irving, Thompson, Marshall are all out.”
That’s six players, 33 percent of the total roster and 80 percent of the usual starting lineup.
The various maladies left the Mavericks with another starting lineup that they’d never used before this season. It was the 15th different lineup that has taken the floor through 33 games.
The injuries in detail: Luka Dončić (left calf strain), Dereck Lively II (left hip contusion), Klay Thompson (illness) Kyrie Irving (right shoulder soreness), Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) and Naji Marshall (league suspension).
The only shred of good news was that P.J. Washington was back from his one game suspension for his role in the Phoenix fracas on Friday.
Actually, there was more good news than that in the case of Lively.
“He had a good workout today, so hopefully we’ll start the new year off with some healthy bodies,” Kidd said. “He had a good day and he’s trending in the right direction.
The Mavericks play next on Wednesday at Houston before returning home Friday against Cleveland.
Revolving door continues in Sac: Doug Christie, who had a seven-game stint with the Mavericks at the start of the 2005-06 season, worked his second game as interim head coach of the Kings Monday against the Mavericks.
In the last 18½ seasons, the Kings have had 13 coaches, which includes a handful of interim coaches who filled gaps in between supposed “permanent” coaches.
To put that in perspective, The Mavericks have had three coaches in the last 18½ seasons: Avery Johnson, Rick Carlisle and Jason Kidd.
The Mavericks have had 10 coaches in their 45-year history.
So there’s something to be said for a franchise that allows a coach to work through the inevitable tough times and put together a program that has a chance to succeed.
The Kings fired Mike Brown last week even though he had won 48 and 46 games in his first two seasons with the club.
“It still hasn’t totally sunk in,” Christie said. “But we’re here to win. Whatever that means, I’m going to tweak and prod and push and expect and go at it. That’s what I’m here to do. I’m here to win, nothing else.
“There are steps to that process and the first step is that when they walk through those doors, they know that that team played their ass off, period.”
Washington explains Phoenix fracas: P.J. Washington served his one-game suspension for the dust-up in Phoenix, but after Monday’s game, he said he still wasn’t happy with the NBA’s decision to suspend him.
“I didn’t feel like I tried to do anything malicious,” Washington said. “I was just trying to protect my teammate. And that was it.”
Washington’s take-no-guff attitude is something the Mavericks embrace and appreciate and it is a team-wide personality trait.
“If something happens like that happens to my teammate, I’m always going to be there for them,” Washington said. “That’s just who I’ve been my whole life. I’m not backing down from nobody and I don’t expect anybody on this team to do so, either.”
X: @ESefko
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