Chandler questionable for Tuesday’s game against Washington

They are almost certain they’ll have shooting guard Monta Ellis available for Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Wizards.

The Dallas Mavericks are just unsure if center Tyson Chandler will be able to play when the game tips off at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center.

Chandler missed Sunday’s 112-107 win over Oklahoma City because of back spasms. The Mavs (22-10) don’t believe his injury is a long-term ordeal.

“Tyson seems to be doing better,” coach Rick Carlisle said Monday. “He’s going to remain listed as questionable, so we’ll hopefully have an update in the morning.”

The status of Ellis is something entirely different.

Ellis injured his left ankle with 1:57 remaining in Sunday’s game when he fell awkwardly. The nine-year veteran lay on the floor writhing in pain for several minutes before walking off the court gingerly.

However, Ellis, who played in all 82 games last season and has played in all 32 games this year, plans to play against the Wizards, saying: “I’m not missing no games.”

After witnessing an injured Ellis brush off repeated injuries before and be in the starting lineup for the next game, Carlisle again believes Ellis will be there for the tipoff.

“Monta seems to be doing OK,” Carlisle said. “I know he said he’s not going to miss any games, so I tend to take his word for that at this point.

“But he got the treatment and is working on getting the ankle fixed up. So we’ll see where he’s at [this] morning, too.”

Ellis had surgery in August on 2008 after he tore the deltoid ligament in his left ankle, suffered a severe high ankle sprain and disruption of ligaments above the ankle joint during a mo-ped accident.

The injury came one month after Ellis signed a six-year, $66 million contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Carlisle said he wasn’t sure if Ellis twisted his ankle, or what he did to it.

“He came down on it funny,” Carlisle said. “That’s the ankle he has a plate in.

“I know it hurt, but he got back up. I was told he was available to go back in if we needed him to, but I elected not to do it because I just don’t want to risk anything, so we’ll hope for the best.”

Smith’s solid game

Greg Smith had his most productive game of the season Sunday when the seldom-used backup center produced four points, eight rebounds, two blocked shots, one steal and one thunderous dunk in 25 minutes.

The most surprising part about Smith’s production is that the foul-prone three-year veteran didn’t commit any fouls against the Thunder.

“He did a nice job,” Carlisle said. “Fouls have been a problem with him.

“He played 25-plus minutes with no fouls, he got some rebounds and made some good plays around the basket. So it was a real positive game for him.”

With Chandler out due to back spasms, the Mavs started three guards against Oklahoma City, including using 6-foot point guard J.J. Barea at small forward.

But Carlisle doesn’t want anyone thinking he’s going to be rolling out that three-guard lineup on a regular basis.

“It got us off to a good start,” Carlisle said. “It’s not something that I think you can do on a regular basis.

“Hopefully it’s a one-time thing until we get ourselves healthy here. But every once in a while, with an opponent like [the Thunder], you’ve got to try to do something a little bit different.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2014 at 11:31 PM with the headline "Chandler questionable for Tuesday’s game against Washington."