Seth Curry was in the starting lineup in the last scrimmage Tuesday before the Mavericks get down to serious business with the regular-season restart on Friday.
We know that doesn’t always mean a whole lot. But coach Rick Carlisle sounded like he’s comfortable with a smallish lineup to start games as the Mavericks wrapped up their scrimmage schedule with a 118-115 overtime win against Philadelphia.
Curry’s presence in the lineup might be especially important Friday against a team like Houston that doesn’t start anybody taller than 6-8.
The Mavericks’ lineup has four certainties: Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Dorian Finney-Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr.
Curry started 20 games before the season was stopped on March 11. He came off the bench in the other 39 games in which he appeared.
He averaged 12.8 points as a starter and 12.5 points as a reserve, so clearly it doesn’t impact his performance either way.
The other starting option for Carlisle would probably be Maxi Kleber in certain situations. No other healthy Maverick has started more than five games (Delon Wright).
“Anything’s possible,” Carlisle said while acknowledging that he wasn’t going to discuss lineup particulars. “Seth’s been very effective as a starter and coming off the bench. We’ll keep looking at what we’re doing.”
Fluid would be the best way to describe the lineup. And, as usual, the finishing lineup could look a little different than the group that takes the court for the jump ball. And, remember, Carlisle once changed lineups in the NBA finals, inserting J.J. Barea at shooting guard.
“There are some instances when you need to adjust your lineups, like when we played against Zion Williamson,” Carlisle said. “We needed to start Kleber at four to try to match up with his size and power.
“In that particular game, Seth ended up coming off the bench, but he played great off the bench. Our guys have been great about being ready regardless of the situation.”
Danger lurks everywhere: Luka Doncic always fights aches and pains during the course of a game because of the physical way he plays.
On Tuesday, he nearly got roughed up by the NBA’s Robo-cam.
Doncic chased down a loose ball in the out-of-bounds area away from the teams’ benches. He came to rest on the barricade that separates the court area from the stands – and the television camera that zooms up and down the court to capture fast breaks and such as they happen.
Little did Doncic know that the camera was coming at him from the far end. Luckily, he saw it at the last minute and jerked himself out of the path of the camera, which is remote-controlled.
“I didn’t see it until the last second,” Doncic said. “It looked like the Matrix moving.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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