It was a typical routine winter practice session for Maxi Kleber and the Dallas Mavericks. Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary. Then, something was alarmingly wrong.
“We had a drill and I took a step,” Kleber said. “I had a little burning on the front on my shin part for a long, long time and I always thought I had just got kicked.
“But when I made that step — it’s really hard to tell what happened in the moment. But it felt like a hyperextension and it felt like a roll of the muscle and the hamstring. And then obviously I couldn’t properly walk afterwards. We took MRI’s and it came out that one part of the tendon was torn.”
For Kleber, the Dec. 13 injury left him with a torn right hamstring. Now he’s on the road to recovery from that non-contact injury and is hopeful of being back on the court sometimes in the foreseeable future.
“The update is everything is going well so far as planned,” Kleber said following Thursday’s practice. “I’m surrounded by a great staff that’s helping me out. It still obviously takes some time, but we’re now in a phase to do on-court stuff and just figure out how fast I can advance and get into jogging and change of direction.
“I have the ball in my hands, I can shoot, I can do a little bit of running and jogging. But basically, right now I have to feel out how much can I do and how much can I stress my legs when it comes to change of direction. Obviously, it’s not always easy, but that’s basically where I’m at right now. So hopefully, in a couple of weeks I’m able to return back to practice and then play.”
Sitting and watching the Mavs struggle with losses in six of their last eight games hasn’t been pleasant for Kleber.
“Obviously it’s frustrating,” he said. “You always want to be out there and help your team, and you have to watch the games from the sidelines.
“You never want to be worried about recovering and coming back. You want to just be out there with your brothers and help them play basketball.”
While watching from the sidelines, Kleber sees a few helpful nuggets he can pass along to his teammates.
“When you play and watch, sometimes you feel maybe mentally drained a little bit,” he said. “That doesn’t happen when you can’t play, because you can just watch unlimited basketball and you want to be out there badly, so you focus also on different things. I see a lot of things.
“Right now I’m obviously focused on how (the opposing teams) play Luka (Doncic), because Luka is our main guy and right now they try to take the ball out of his hands all the time. So what can we do better as a team on the back side to make it easy for him again, because it’s going to change at some point where they don’t double him as much anymore. So just understanding all parts of the game.”
What Kleber doesn’t understand is how a team like the Mavs that were relatively strong on the defensive end of the court last season has suddenly given up 130 or more points during their last three games. But Kleber believes the defense will soon start stepping up to the plate, hopefully as soon as Friday at 6:30 p.m. when the Mavs (24-22) host the Miami Heat (25-21) at American Airlines Center.
“I still have strong belief because we have a great group of guys,” Kleber said. “Sometimes it maybe just takes one game, one moment to make it click.
“We stress (playing defense) so much just like we did last year, but the belief is there. My belief is maybe it’s just clicking a little bit later, but we have all the answers. If we go over it over and over and over again, some way it has to click. Otherwise, we got to question our learning ability.”
Granted, Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Green do a lot of heavy lifting for the Mavs on the defensive side of the court. The Mavs are just 10-9 since Kleber was injured.
Meanwhile, Finney-Smith and Green just returned in time for Wednesday’s 130-121 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Before Wednesday, the Mavs were 9-5 this season without Finney-Smith and 11-9 without Green.
“I think the number one thing we just all have to do is stick to the scheme no matter what,” Kleber said. “The game plan can change, opponents change, so there’s so many variables in there that you just have to stick to the rules that we have, and sometimes it feels like we’re not doing them properly the way we were last year, and at some point it may click.
“Everybody knew what they were supposed to do no matter who we played, no matter what the offenses and all that, and it has to happen now too. Obviously, we miss guys like (Finney-Smith) and Josh as well. It’s not easy to find all those schemes when you have your best defenders out, but everybody got to hold themselves accountable because we have all the answers. We just got to do it ourselves now.”
What Kleber can hold himself accountable for now is the treatments and what workouts he can do at this stage of his recovery.
“A typical day is I come to the gym, do a little bit of treatments, I get my lifts done for my legs, then I’m going to do some cardio/running routine,” he said. “And then I’m going to shoot, treatments again, some cold and hot tub stuff, and that’s it for the day.
“And game day it’s a little bit split up. I add some biking, because I have extra time because there’s two appointments in the gym on the day.”
Looking back, Kleber never thought this hamstring injury would cost him the remainder of this season. He was always on board with the power of positive thinkers out there.
“As soon as I got the MRI results, the doctors were open to me about what kind of injury this is and how long it’s going to take,” Kleber said. “So I wasn’t worried that it’s going to be the whole season, but obviously it’s going to take time.
“The muscle has to still heal, but I never thought it was going to be the entire season. What the time is exactly, it’s hard to tell because it differentiates on how it heals. But like I said, I’m very optimistic.”
BRIEFLY: The Mavs received some bad news Thursday when they learned that center Christian Wood would be sidelined for an indefinitely period after he sustained a fracture of his left thumb. The injury occurred in the second quarter of Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks. Wood will be re-evaluated next week, meaning he will miss at least Friday’s game against Miami and Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. . .Tim Hardaway Jr. is listed as probable for the game against Miami with a left ankle sprain, while McKinley
Wright IV won’t play due to a right foot sprain. . .The NBA has moved Sunday’s game against the Clippers from a 6:30 p.m. tipoff to a 1:30 p.m. tipoff so it won’t go head-to-head with the Dallas Cowboys’ playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. The game between the Cowboys and 49ers will kick off at 5:30 p.m. . .The Mavs sang “Happy Birthday” to center JaVale McGee after Thursday’s practice. McGee turned 35 years old on Thursday. Asked what they got McGee for his birthday, forward Reggie Bullock said: “Forty candles. That’s how old he turned, right, 40?”. .Forward Maxi Kleber gets excited when he sees rookie guard Jaden Hardy on the court. “He has amazing talent,” Kleber said. “I think you (media) guys all see that. I think what he has is very special. He finds a way to the rim and can attack and score, and always finds a loophole. I think he’s a very special talent. The most important part for him is just like playing time and figuring out how to play in the system and understand what coach wants from him, because he has everything. He has the work ethic, he has the talent and all those things.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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