Playing well is every team’s goal this time of the year, but even more vital to success heading into the playoffs is health.
The Mavericks have been fighting that foe all season and it continued Saturday night with 40 percent of their starting lineup sidelined against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kristaps Porzingis sat out with a left ankle sprain and Josh Richardson could not go because of tightness in his right hamstring.
While neither injury is expected to be a long-term problem, every game in which key players aren’t available is a setback, especially for a team that had just moved up to No. 6 in the Western Conference and desperately hopes to avoid the play-in tournament among teams seven through 10 in each conference.
Both players were missed against the Lakers, but sacrificing them for a game if it means improved health down the road is the prudent course of action.
“We believe that it’s not serious,” coach Rick Carlisle said of Porzingis. “But it wasn’t a close call as to whether he would play or not (Saturday). The decision to have him sit tonight was not a difficult one.”
Porzingis rolled his ankle Thursday in the third quarter against the Lakers and hobbled to the locker room. It was good news after that game that X-rays showed no structural problems and that the 7-3 Porzingis wasn’t in a walking boot.
The Mavericks upcoming schedule: road games at Sacramento Monday, Golden State Tuesday and Washington on Thursday.
Richardson, meanwhile, pulled up with the hamstring problem at the Mavericks’ walk-through earlier Saturday.
Carlisle said it was similar to a tight calf muscle Richardson experience in Washington, which kept him out against the Wizards on April 3.
“He went through shootaround, the walk-through segment,” Carlisle said. “He just felt that it was tight and that he couldn’t go. It’s best that we treat it, try to knock it out over the next couple days and see if he can be ready for Monday.”
Carlisle said that’s the same tact the Mavericks took on the calf problem earlier this month and Richardson was good to go for the next game.
“It’s been a compressed season with an awful lot of games,” Carlisle said. “Tightness, aches and pains, these things are happening all over the league.
“Other than the COVID protocol period, he (Richardson) has played in every game except tonight and the game at Washington. So he’s been extremely durable. I’m glad that he let us know instead of trying to go and then maybe aggravating it – as much as we need him, because he played a terrific game two nights ago.”
What, us worry? The Los Angeles Lakers went 7-9 from March 21 to April 19 – the time that they were without both Anthony Davis and LeBron James.
Davis returned on Thursday and his activity level increased on Saturday as he was allowed to play both halves against the Mavericks, albeit with a 25-minute restriction.
Lakers’ coach Frank Vogel was asked before Saturday’s game about how the team has stayed positive during their time without their two superstars.
“I don’t think there’s anything we really have to do,” he said. “We’ve been playing .500 basketball without Anthony and without LeBron. You put those guys back in the mix, we feel great about what we can accomplish in the playoffs.”
It’s hard to argue with his optimism. The Lakers were 28-14 before James went out, and that included more than a month during which James played without Davis.
Bold response: The Mavericks did a nice job in Thursday’s win of using dribble-penetration to attack the basket and rack up 56 points in the paint.
That tied the fourth biggest output of points in the paint for the season. And it came against the league’s best defense.
Carlisle expected changes from the Lakers and they came quickly on Saturday. They made it a point to double-team Luka Dončić and get the ball out of his hands.
That resulted in points in the paint being a lot harder to come by on Saturday.
“They’re No. 1 in the league in defense,” Carlisle said before the game. “And the numbers are strong. When you look at what they did last year in the playoffs, they’re adjustment when they didn’t play well was to always ratchet up their defense and play more physically. So we got to play more physically.”
The Mavericks had just 18 points in the paint in the first half on Saturday.
Twitter: @ESefko
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