No, the Dallas Mavericks don’t want anyone to have a pity party for them.
Despite all the injuries that have made it more difficult for them to win games, the Mavs believe they have enough talented players on their deep roster to continue winning games until superstar guards Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving are well enough to play again.
“It’s been tough obviously dealing with injuries the whole season,” forward P. J. Washington said. “But at the end of the day we’re all professionals, so we’ve got to come in here and work and just be ready for your opportunity.
“It’s tough when a lot of your good players are out, but we’re all professionals. It’s part of the game and you just got to play through it. We just got to be better on the defensive end, and I feel like we can win games no matter who’s on the floor.”
Dončić has missed the past five games while dealing with a left calf strain. Irving has been sidelined the past two games with a lumbar back sprain.
Meanwhile, center Daniel Gafford sprained his left ankle during Monday’s 119-104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Mavs were up, 41-32, with 8:26 remaining in 
the second quarter when Gafford was injured. He never returned to the game that quickly changed with his departure.
But the Mavs refuse to use the absence of three of their key players as the reasons they now have a five-game losing streak.
“No matter who’s on the floor, no matter who’s hurt, no matter who’s going through some things, we got to lift each other up,” center Dereck Lively II said. “We got to lean on the next man (and) we got to be able to step up.
“There are times where we’re going to look at each other and be like, ‘Now what?’ But that’s not going to get us to where we want to be. We got to learn from mistakes and we just got to get better.”
Here are the takeaways from the 15-point loss to the Grizzlies.
JACKSON FILLED THE STAT SHEET: Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. had his hands in a lot of stuff Monday night, and most of it wasn’t good for the Mavs. Jackson finished the night with a game-high 35 points, a game-high tying 13 rebounds, a team-high five assists, three steals and one blocked shot. Jackson was 13-of-23 from the field, 1-of-2 on three-pointers and 8-of-12 from the free throw line in 34 workmanlike minutes.
FREE THROW DISCREPANCY: There was a wide difference in the amount of free throws the Grizzlies attempted and the amount the Mavs attempted. Memphis went to the line an amazing 35 times, while the Mavs only had 15 free-throw attempts – or three less than Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. tried. Memphis converted 27 free throws to 11 for the Mavs. That 16-point difference is almost the difference in this 15-point game.
WASHINGTON WAS EVERYWHERE: Mavs forward P. J. Washington appeared to all over the place at once during Monday’s game. If there was a critical moment to be made, most of the time Washington was there to make it happen. Washington finished the game with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals in 32 minutes.
X: @DwainPrice
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