DALLAS – The Dallas Mavericks are not overly concerned about the right wrist injury that limited point guard Dennis Smith Jr. to just 19 minutes in Wednesday’s 119-113 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.
“I believe it’s minor,” coach Rick Carlisle said following Friday’s practice session at the Lympo practice facilities. “I believe it’s day-to-day.”
Smith injured the wrist on his shooting hand during this past Monday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies. But no alarm bells went off, because Smith didn’t make a big deal about it.
“I wasn’t aware of it until it was after practice on Tuesday,” Carlisle said. “But he had it taped and he hadn’t taken any shots in the scrimmage from the outside.
“But he wanted to play (against the Nets). He didn’t want to sit, and he wanted to guard (Nets point guard D’Angelo) Russell, who is their leading scorer.”
Russell wound up scoring 17 points on 6-of-18 shooting. Smith, though, took just three shots against Brooklyn and made two of them and tallied only four points.
But Carlisle admired Smith’s overwhelming desire to be on the court in a game that turned into the sixth victory in the last eight contests for the Mavs.
“Hey, those are all great things,” Carlisle said of Smith’s aspiration to play in pain against the Nets. “And he gave us some good minutes when he was out there.
“It was just hard being out there when you can’t shoot the ball.”
Normally, rookie Jalen Brunson likely would have been on the court a bit more with Smith sidelined. However, Carlisle instead went with Ryan Broekhoff against the Nets, and Brunson sat out the entire game.
“I played Broekhoff instead in the first half to give him a look,” Carlisle said. “Also from a matchup standpoint it was a game that made some sense to get some size and shooting in there.
“Broekhoff (played nine minutes and) held his own well, and I know Jalen is always ready. He’ll have to be ready tomorrow.”
The Mavs (8-9) will host the Boston Celtics (9-9) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center in the finale of a two-game home stand before Dallas hits the road for a pair of games next week. The Mavs will play at the Houston Rockets on Wednesday and at the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 30.
Meanwhile, forward Dwight Powell did not practice on Friday. Powell has missed the last two games with a left knee effusion.
However, guard Wesley Matthews did go through practice on Friday. Matthews has been sidelined the last three games with a strained left hamstring.
“He’s been through a couple of live practices recently,” Carlisle said of Matthews. “So he’s moving in the right direction.”
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