Burke knows coaching staff trusts in him and knows what he can do

When he goes through stretches of games without playing – or with only playing a few minutes – Dallas Mavericks guard Trey Burke has a mantra he keeps repeating to himself over and over again.

“Remembering who I am as a player,” Burke said. “It’s easier to do that after a week or two.

“But after it goes for a certain amount of time, you start to question like, ‘Dang, is it me? But I know the coaching staff trusts in me and knows what I can do.”

Coach Jason Kidd said he has the ultimate trust in Burke. It’s just that he has a log jam in the backcourt with Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, Frank Ntilikina and Burke.

And regardless of who the player is, there’s only so many quality minutes to go around.

On Burke sitting and watching, or playing minimal minutes, or expecting to produce when he’s given quality minutes, Kidd said: “It’s got to be hard. It’s got to be hard.

“But that just shows that, again, the coaches and TB and the rest of the guys who don’t play a lot of minutes are working on their game when they have the time.”

From Jan. 14 through this past Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, Burke played in nine of the 14 games on the Mavs’ schedule during that time frame. Unfortunately for him, he only played a total of 40 minutes, with none of his appearances lasting more than eight minutes.

However, when Doncic and Brunson each got in foul trouble in Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, Kidd turned to Burke and he delivered with seven points in only 15 minutes during a 103-94 victory. That solid showing by Burke led to him playing 21 minutes against the Pistons, and he responded with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting as the Mavs won, 116-86.

“We said all the great things about (Burke on Sunday) and now he comes back and does it again for us,” Kidd said. “He’s getting minutes.

“We kind of put him ahead of Frank right now. Not because of anything Frank has done. But we need to see TB in that situation and he’s taken full advantage of it and he’s playing at a high level for us.”

The instant offense-like productivity from Burke comes as no surprise to Brunson.

“Trey is being Trey,” Brunson said. “Trey is being himself. You guys are shocked because he hasn’t played a lot, and to be able to be that effective coming off the bench is spectacular.

“We’ve seen what he can do. Me and Trey, we play a lot of one-on-one together. I know what he can do. It’s nothing new to us. I’m happy for him, but we know what he’s capable of.”

A similar analysis of Burke’s game came from Doncic.

“He’s always ready, and sometimes he doesn’t play,” Doncic said. “He always gives 100 percent when he’s out there, and we just appreciate having him.”

When the Mavs (32-23) host the Los Angeles Clippers (27-29) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center, Burke hopes he’ll get another chance to repeat what he was able to accomplish against the Hawks and Pistons.

Burke, 29, describes sitting and waiting for his opportunity to play as “an individual challenge” that he doesn’t wish on anybody. But he knows it goes with the territory.

“I’m not the only guy that goes through it,” Burke said. “I think, though, me being on a few teams where I had to sit at times, I’ve learned how to stay ready (and) stay prepared. I’ve always talked about it when I do have big games after not playing.

“But it’s the nights after practice coming in, the early mornings before practice getting work in. It’s just the habits on a daily basis that start to come out when the opportunity presents itself.”

At times like that, Burke looks for a pat on the back or some supportive words. He said he’s getting that, “Along with faith, believing in who I am, believing in what I can do out there on the court (and) what I can bring.

“Also, my teammates, they want the best for me. Every time I go out there (they say): ’Yo, don’t be nobody else. Be aggressive.’ And that’s encouraging to me.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice