Mavericks forward Parsons out at least 3 games with ankle injury

The Dallas Mavericks will play a few games without small forward Chandler Parsons, who’ll be sidelined for at least three games with a sprained left ankle and a bone bruise in his left ankle.

Parsons suffered the injury during Friday’s 111-100 victory over the Houston Rockets. The four-year veteran left that game for good with 8:15 remaining.

Parsons missed Sunday’s game against Charlotte and will also sit out the upcoming set of back-to-back games Tuesday at home against Toronto and Wednesday at Atlanta. The Mavs hope he’ll be able to play in Saturday’s home game against the Brooklyn Nets.

“We’ll just evaluate him after we get back from that trip [to Atlanta],” coach Rick Carlisle said, “and see where he is.”

So how will the Mavs survive without the player they signed to a three-year, $46 million contract last summer?

“The same way we survived without everybody,” guard Devin Harris said. “We’ve got guys who can step up and fill the void — veteran guys. We just got to do it by committee.”

Richard Jefferson started Sunday against Charlotte. But the Mavs know they can also turn to Al-Farouq Aminu, who produced season highs in points (17) and rebounds (12) in the win over the Rockets.

“The last couple of weeks since he’s been back in the rotation he’s playing a lot more aggressive,” Harris said of Aminu. “He’s become pretty much a dominant shot-blocker, a rebounder.

“He’s pretty much doing a lot of things for us. I just hope he continues to do so.”

Overseas help

While he was in town from Germany recently, Holger Geschwindner — the longtime mentor, coach and adviser to Dirk Nowitzki — worked some with point guard Rajon Rondo on his shot.

The experience likely made a difference as Rondo was 8-of-18 from the field with 18 points in the previous two games headed into Sunday’s game against Charlotte.

“He spent quite a bit of time with him before the break, too,” Carlisle said of Geschwindner. “I’m pretty certain that that work is going to be a real positive thing.”

Nowitzki has been known to make marked improvements with his shot whenever Geschwindner makes the trek to Dallas.

“Holger is a brilliant guy when it comes to shooting,” Carlisle said. “I don’t know if there’s anybody on the whole planet I would recommend more than him with that.”

Villanueva’s light

Carlisle said reserve forward Charlie Villanueva has a “bright blue” light to shoot the ball, especially when he’s on a roll.

“He’s a microwave kind of guy,” Carlisle said. “That’s one of the really great things about him — he comes in and hits a shot cold.

“He’s worked extremely hard this year on his shooting. He’s always a guy that could shoot, but he’s really worked at his consistency this year and its showing up in the games.”

Over the past four games Villanueva has averaged 14.5 points and made 20 of 33 baskets, including 12 of 18 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.

This story was originally published February 22, 2015 at 9:02 PM with the headline "Mavericks forward Parsons out at least 3 games with ankle injury."