Even when he misses a game, Luka Dončić remains a hot topic.
The Mavericks’ superstar point guard sat out Wednesday’s visit by the Houston Rockets to American Airlines Center, ostensibly to let a sore right ankle rest. But it was just as important to let every other part of his body rest, too.
With only nine games remaining until the playoffs, coach Jason Kidd is well into the process of trying to get his best players as good physically as they can be at the end of a long, grinding regular season.
But Kidd also likes winning games. And he realizes that every win is like gold as the Mavericks joust with Golden State, Utah, Denver and Minnesota for spots three through seven in the Western Conference playoff picture.
It’s a chess match the coach of every playoff-bound team must play. For playoff-bound NBA teams, the debate about resting players vs. winning as many games as possible has been around forever.
Kidd said that he’s hopeful that Dončić will return to practice on Thursday, which is a good indication that this was purely a rest game for him.
But it’s also a game the Mavericks needed to win against the team with the worst record in the NBA.
“We’re competing to win every game,” Kidd said. “And so, we’ve seen through COVID, through injuries, the next-man-up mentality. That’s tonight. That bench has to be ready and we have to figure out a way to beat Houston.”
Ultimately, they did, although it was a struggle for nearly three quarters before the Mavericks pulled away.
For Luka, who looked dashing on the bench in a light-brown sweatsuit, his most taxing moment of the night was getting his player of the month award for February before the game.
Other than that, the rest offered him a chance to get ready for two difficult games upcoming – at Minnesota on Friday in a rematch of Monday’s game against Patrick Beverley and the Timberwolves, and Sunday at AAC against Utah.
He has been involved in a lot of jawing with Beverley and Utah’s Rudy Gobert in the most recent meetings against them.
“They both want to be heard,” Kidd said. “Pat Bev wants to be heard. Gobert wants to be heard. Luka is not afraid to express himself back to those guys. It’s just part of basketball.
“I think you can see the growth in Luka here of late. The game can be spirited. We understand that March, April are going to be spirited. I think he’s showing his aggression in a positive way. I like that he expresses himself to the other team. And hopefully his teammates see that, too, and it gives us some energy.”
And, thanks to a rest night Wednesday, Luka should be closer to a full tank on Friday for the critical meeting against Minnesota.
Blowing out the candles: Jason Kidd’s 49th birthday was Wednesday and after the jokes about closing in on 50 subsided, it was time for one of Kidd’s old pals to reflect on their history together.
“He’s one of my favorites,” Rockets coach and former Mavericks’ assistant Stephen Silas said. “My dad (Paul Silas) coached him when he was in Phoenix (as an assistant in the mid-‘90s). So they were close back then, and we’ve kind of stayed in touch for a while.
“But I didn’t know it was his birthday. How old is he? 49? Man, he’s only a year older than I am. I always looked up to him. Now . . . it’s eye-to-eye (laughing, gesturing on being on same eye level).”
Waiting for the next Bobi sighting: An oft-asked question for the last couple months has been why Boban Marjanović can’t find any playing time.
The answer, from Kidd, is that there will come a time when Boban is needed and will play.
But in this era of the NBA with big men who mostly hang out on the perimeter and shoot 3-pointers, Marjanović has a difficult time guarding anybody, which diminishes the obvious advantages he supplies on the offensive end.
“He can play, and he’s always been ready to play when called on,” Kidd said. “He’s a perfect example of being a true pro. Not playing, but always being prepared when his name is called. He does all the extra work. He’s the last one to leave the gym a lot of times. His spirit is high.
“And so there is going to be a chance that he’s going to play to help us win at some point. I can’t tell you when. But with the league as small as it is, with small ball, it’s hard right now.”
Marjanović has played a total of three games and 4 minutes, 47 seconds since Dec. 27.
Naturally, when the Mavericks were ahead by 20 points with under 6 minutes left against the Rockets, chants of “We want Bo-ban,” began filtering down from the crowd.
Silas remembers coaching Luka: You’ve heard of gifted kids in school.
Luka Dončić is one of those types of kids on the basketball court, at least, that’s the view from Silas.
When the Rockets’ coach was in Dallas on Rick Carlisle’s staff, he had ample opportunity to get to know Luka and understand his greatness.
“I learned that he’s supremely confident,” Silas said. “And guys like that who are supremely confident as well as skilled have a way of taking that next step to superstardom.”
And the basketball IQ was evident early and often.
“I learned that he’s like a basketball savant,” Silas said. “Even at that age, he understood the game so well and picked things up so quickly to where if I was trying to go through the offense a couple times, after two or three times, he’d be like: coach, we got it, we got it.
“I was like, no, you got it. But not everybody else has it. He’s just that smart where he can pick things up so quickly. He was definitely a joy to coach.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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