MILWAUKEE – With guard Kyrie Irving out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the major question is:
does that mean the other prime-time player on the Dallas Mavericks’ roster – Klay Thompson – will have his minutes increased?
“I think someone asked me are we going to have Klay play more minutes the other night,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “We will get there, right? At some point he’s going to have to play more minutes.”
Thompson played 34 minutes during Wednesday’s 137-107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The only other time this season he has 
played more minutes is when he played a season-high 35 minutes during a game against Denver on Jan. 12.
Thompson also played 34 minutes against Indiana on Nov. 4, against Phoenix on Nov. 8, against Portland on Dec. 28, and twice against Golden State – on Nov. 12 and Feb. 12. Whether his minutes get ramped up the remainder of this season remains to be seen.
Kidd said: “As deeper the season gets the games get bigger, you start to play your stars more minutes to get ready for the playoffs, because the rotation gets shorter, and those stars play more minutes.”
Against the Bucks, Thompson led the Mavs with a team-high 28 points, which was one point shy of his season-high of 29 points he scored against Golden State on Dec. 15. Thompson converted a season-high tying 11 field goals in a season-high 27 attempts against Milwaukee.
Here are the three takeaways from the Bucks’ 30-point win over the Mavs.
MAVS HAD NUMEROUS INJURIES: The Mavs had too many key players on the injury list to make it a realistic close game against the Bucks. The Mavs had
nine players on the injury list, and wound up dressing only eight players. The players missing include Kyrie Irving (torn left ACL), Anthony Davis (adductor strain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), PJ Washington (right ankle sprain), Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Dante Exum (right foot contusion), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain), Caleb Martin (right hip strain) and Kai Jones (left quad strain).
MARSHALL WITH THE HUGE WINDFALL: Forward Naji Marshall had a banner day for the Mavs against the Bucks as he popped in 22 points on 10-of-18 shots. Marshall also contributed a game-high 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. It was the seventh time this season Marshall has scored at least 20 points in a game.
LILLARD/ANTETOKOUNMPO WERE RED HOT: Bucks guard Damian Lillard and forward Giannis Antetokounmpo combined to scored 66 points on 24-of-35 shooting. Lillard scored 34 points, handed out five assists and collected two steals, and was 11-of-15 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range in 27 minutes. Antetokounmpo finished with 32 points and 15 rebounds, and was 13-of-20 from the floor in just 25 minutes en route to becoming the 52nd player in NBA history to score at least 20,000 career points.
X: @DwainPrice
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