As Jason Kidd said Tuesday afternoon, what the Mavericks have in front of them now is no longer a marathon.
It’s a sprint.
It’s 27 games to the regular-season finish line and a spot in the playoffs if the Mavericks finish strong.
To say it starts off with a challenging stretch would be an understatement.
While Luka Dončić got an extra day to exhale after his extensive All-Star Weekend obligations, the rest of the Mavericks got back to business on Tuesday with an afternoon practice.
Ahead of them is Thursday’s meeting at American Airlines Center with the rising Phoenix Suns. Then a brutal trip that hits Indiana, Cleveland, Toronto and Boston.
Four of those teams believe they have championship capabilities. And the Mavericks (along with a lot of other teams) have always had troubles in Canada.
But as Kidd likes to say, the schedule is what it is. You play it as it comes.
“Coming out of the gates, Phoenix is a team we’re chasing,” Kidd said of the Suns, who at 33-22 are a game ahead of the 32-23 Mavericks. “Then you head to Indiana, with Rick (Carlisle) and they score 200 points a night. And then you go to Cleveland. They’ve won 18 out of (20). And then to Toronto, celebrate a birthday there. It’s a national holiday (Luka will turn 25 when the Mavericks play Toronto on Feb. 28). And then we begin the month of March in Boston. So it’s not easy.”
If it was, everybody would be doing it.
But the Mavericks do have momentum on their side. They finished the pre-All-Star portion of the season with a six-game winning streak to get nine games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season, when they eventually reached the Western Conference finals.
The Mavericks’ winning streak is the longest in the NBA going into the stretch run. And it’s something they can hang their hat on.
But it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t keep winning more than they lose the rest of the way.
“I feel like it is a good thing,” rookie center Dereck Lively II said of the rugged upcoming schedule. “It’s a good way to challenge ourselves. It’s a good way to get better.”
The Mavericks are seventh in the Western Conference. Phoenix is sixth. The top six teams make the playoffs. Nos. 7 through 10 go through the play-in tournament for the final two playoff spots.
“It’s hard to have a win streak in this league,” Kidd said. “There are so many talented players and teams. And we’re going to be challenged to win seven against Phoenix here on Thursday.
“But we’ve felt really good about what we’re doing on both sides of the ball. We’re getting healthier and deeper and it becomes an opportunity where we don’t have to play our guys 42 minutes a night because of our depth. Now, it’s just about winning, no matter who scores. It’s the “W” column that we’re trying to fill right now.”
Well-deserved day off: Dončić played in the All-Star Game on Sunday and wasn’t required to be back for Tuesday’s practice.
That was a no-brainer for Kidd.
“He’s put us in the situation where we are today,” he said of Luka Dončić. “And for him to go to Indiana to enjoy All-Star (weekend), for him to have to come back and practice today, it would have been unfair. Just not a long enough break.
“It’s a much-needed rest. And, also now, this is the sprint. We need everyone healthy and I think we’re going in that direction. And everybody’s ready.”
Kidd emphasized that there is no target for Luka’s minutes the rest of the way. But he emphasized that it will ebb and flow.
“We’ve seen him play a lot of minutes but there’s also games when he doesn’t have to play the fourth quarter,” Kidd said. “To win and not have to play in the fourth quarter, we’re doing a lot of good things.”
Briefly: Aside from Dončić, Dante Exum did not practice on Tuesday, sitting out with the right knee bursitis that has bothered him for a month. Said Kidd: “No setback. He’s been working out. He’ll do practice tomorrow, non-contact, and I think the plan is somewhere on that road trip to get him back.” . . . Lively, by the way, said he has to wear his Batman-style mask for a month after his nasal surgery to “make sure everything in my nose holds and locks in place.” That means he’ll probably have to wear it a couple more weeks . . . Kidd was asked what he thought of the 200-plus points that the East All-Stars put up in winning the game against the West on Sunday. “We just got to get used to the game being in the 200s now,” he said. “I felt bad for KAT (Karl-Anthony Towns). KAT scored 50 and no one even mentioned his name.”
X: @ESefko
Share and comment