Nowitzki makes first appearance, but Mavericks fall again

Dirk Nowitzki made his first appearance this season in a Dallas Mavericks preseason game Friday night at American Airlines Center.

But the overall results wound up being the same.

With four other starters out nursing various injuries, the Mavs fell to the Atlanta Hawks 91-84 before a sellout crowd of 19,315.

The loss dropped the Mavs to 0-4 in preseason, while the Hawks improved to 4-0. The Mavs are hoping things improve by the time they hit the road to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.

Nowitzki played all 19 of his minutes in the first half when the Mavs trailed 52-48. The 18-year veteran started and finished with six points on 2-of-6 shooting, and also grabbed seven rebounds.

The Mavs wanted to see what Nowitzki could do after he took it easy in training camp after playing last month for the German national team in EuroBasket 2015.

“He’s moving well, his activity is good,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “He looked excited to be back out there. I was very encouraged. It was about what I expected. I expected him to move well and be aggressive, and he was.”

The Mavs played without starters Chandler Parsons (knee surgery), Wesley Matthews (Achilles tendon surgery), Deron Williams (calf) and JaVale McGee (tibia). And they could have used them against a Hawks team that posted the best record in the Eastern Conference last season.

“We like our group,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “A majority of our guys have been together a year or two. We’re excited to come in and work and get better every day and see what we can do.”

Rookie Justin Anderson struggled for the fourth straight game. Anderson was 5-of-16 from the floor and scored 12 points, and also picked up four rebounds, four assists and four turnovers in 32 minutes.

“I think he’s been struggling shooting the ball, but he’s been working hard,” owner Mark Cuban said. “I think that’s a part of his game that’ll come around. I think he’s trying so hard it’s hurting his shot. But he’s confident and he’s going to be fine.”

In the Mavs’ four preseason games, Anderson is just 12-of-41 from the field. But Cuban said it’s way too early for any cause for alarm.

“Rookies don’t make it in their first year if they stop shooting,” Cuban said. “He’s going to be a defensive guy and he’s going to be an energy guy.”

John Jenkins led the Mavs with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in only 20 minutes. Jenkins has led the Mavs in scoring in all four games.

The Mavs also got two points, a game-high eight rebounds and two blocks from center Salah Mejri.

A turnover by Anderson led to a fastbreak dunk by DeQuan Jones and an 88-82 lead for the Hawks with 2:07 left in the game. Lamar Patterson’s 3-pointer a short time later wrapped it up.

“Right now with our health issues we’ve just got to piece this thing through,” Carlisle said. “We’ve got to get as much as we can out of the games.

“We’ve got to decide which things to put in and which things to scrap based on our new personnel. There are some important decisions that are being made every day and we’ve got to get it right.”　

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 11:09 PM with the headline "Nowitzki makes first appearance, but Mavericks fall again."