Mavericks hopeful Dirk Nowitzki will play against Clippers

Rick Carlisle is very hopeful Dirk Nowitzki will be able to play tonight when the Dallas Mavericks host the Los Angeles Clippers at American Airlines Center.

Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Nowitzki has missed the past eight games with soreness in his right Achilles, and the Mavericks have gone 2-6 in that period.

"Getting Dirk back will always be a positive,’’ Carlisle said. "My hope is that he’s going to play.

"I think he’s going to, but I’m not going to say for sure until tonight.’’

As far as what changes for the Mavreicks on the offensive side with Nowitzki in the lineup, Carlisle said: "The guy’s scored almost 30,000 points, so I think we’ll have a better chance of scoring.’’

The addition of Nowitzki will ease some of the burden placed on Harrison Barnes and Wesley Matthews. Barnes averages 21.2 points and is second in the NBA in minutes played at 38.1 minutes per game, while Matthews averages 13.3 points and is tied for third in the league in minutes played at 36.9 per outing.

"It alleviates some of the minutes responsibility on Barnes – Barnes is playing too many minutes,’’ Carlisle said. "Seth Curry is playing too many minutes, Wes is playing too many minutes.

"We’ve got to get their minutes down. In order for us to compete against these better teams these guys have had to play exorbitant amounts of minutes and I’ve just got to watch that and be vigilant about doing the right thing..’’

The addition of Nowitzki will help with that problem.

Carlisle said: "When you get a guy like Dirk back it could have a trickle up affect on the perimeter side too, because some guys may bump up a little bit.’’

While Nowitzki may be back tonight, point guard Deron Williams (calf), and guards Devin Harris (toe) and J. J. Barea (calf) will not play tonight. Carlisle, though, is hopeful that center Andrew Bogut (calf) will be back in the lineup after he missed Monday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Williams said he’s getting close to being back on the court after missing seven of the previous eight games.

"I’m starting to feel better,’’ Williams said. "I did pretty much everything yesterday in practice – we didn’t go live, so I didn’t get a chance to really test it out.

"But it was a little sore afterward, so I just what to kind of be cautious with it, but knowing that I need to get back out here as soon as possible.’’

Williams explained that it’s been very difficult to watch the Mavericks (2-11) stumble down a path that has them owning the league’s worst won-loss record.

"That’s why I tried to play against Boston (last Wednesday),’’ Williams said. "It didn’t really work the way I planned it, but I definitely want to get back out here and help this team win some games.’’

Williams played 10 minutes against Boston before he couldn’t play any more.

"I just got an MRI again yesterday, so there was no further damage and it’s healing,’’ Williams said. "But it definitely got really, really tight to the point where it felt almost like it did when I injured it.

"So at that point I didn’t want to risk tearing it or pulling it even more.’’

With the walking wounded in street clothes, a lot of the young players have been receiving significant playing time. That could be a huge plus, long term.

"These guys are getting some really unbelievable experience, which is going to help them as time goes along,’’ Carlisle said. "They’re fighting hard out there, so we’ve just got to continue to do that and keep putting ourselves in a position to win games.’’

Still, the Mavericks know they need to start winning games before things start to really get out of hand.

"It’s such a long year,’’ Carlisle said. "We’ve just got to stay the course every day and get the team better, get the young guys better, get healthier and go from there.

"I always have, I guess, an eye on the big picture on the one hand, but this is a day-to-day thing. And as we get guys back we’re going to have to manage their comebacks the right way, too.’’

This story was originally published November 23, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Mavericks hopeful Dirk Nowitzki will play against Clippers."