Mavericks begin brutal stretch of five games in seven nights

Sunday started a stretch in which the Dallas Mavericks will play five games in seven nights.

“I hate when you’re in it,” owner Mark Cuban said. “I’m glad when you’re done with it.”

The Mavs played Phoenix on Sunday at American Airlines Center. They will play at Atlanta on Monday, host Miami on Wednesday and San Antonio on Friday, and then play at Memphis on Saturday.

That type of hectic schedule can be draining on the players — so much so that the Mavs decided to rest superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki on Sunday against Phoenix.

“It puts stress on the team from the standpoint if we don’t have Dirk for back-to-backs, it puts us in a tough spot,” coach Rick Carlisle said.

Carlisle wouldn’t say if Nowitzki will miss one leg of this weekend’s back-to-back against the Spurs and Grizzlies.

“The hope is that sitting one of these two — perhaps we get to that point — both of those games could be in play,” Cuban said. “But it hasn’t been determined. We need to focus on the present.”

The Mavs went 4-1 when they played five games in seven days Nov. 10-16, and 2-3 when it occurred Jan. 12-18.

Cuban said if the season was extended by 10 days, playing five games in seven nights would be eliminated. But he added that the television bigwigs who have a contractual relationship with the NBA won’t allow it.

“The response is that it’s not a smart move for TV, and TV is our biggest customer,” Cuban said. “I don’t know if I agree with that, but we do what our biggest customer is worth listening to.

“Just fewer TV-watching households during the summer because more people are outside playing. They measure it on the number of people watching TV, and you can see it on other shows what happens to the ratings.”

In other words, the person writing the checks gets to call the shots.

“When the company pays you as much money as TV pays us, you have to be considerable of their needs,” Cuban said. “Because otherwise, Dirk, [Tim] Duncan don’t make as much money.”

Any trades?

Cuban claims that his team is so uninvolved in any possible trades that the Feb. 18 trade deadline hasn’t even been discussed.

“I don’t even know when [the deadline] is,” Cuban said. “Seriously, I really don’t. There’s nothing really that’s tempting us into real conversations. The chemistry is great — really good. You guys aren’t picking up any stories of drama behind the scenes. There’s no back-biting.”

Nothing like last year when issues kept surfacing with guards Rajon Rondo and Monta Ellis? Cuban said: “That’s for [darn] sure.”

Griffin’s suspension

Memphis forward Matt Barnes was recently suspended two games by the NBA for an off-the-court incident involving New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher.

But Cuban doesn’t think Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin should be suspended for an off-the-court fight he had Jan. 25 with the team’s equipment manager.

“I’m not going to get into that at all,” Cuban said. “I think Blake’s a good guy, so I actually hope not. I’ll let the league decide what they want to do.”

Briefly

▪ Guard Devin Harris (sprained toe) did not play Sunday against Phoenix, and Carlisle said he’s doubtful for Monday’s game at Atlanta.

▪ Cuban will co-host a Super Bowl party in San Francisco on Saturday that will feature the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Mavericks begin brutal stretch of five games in seven nights."