Due to injuries and illnesses, Mavs going through some hard times

HOUSTON – Times are unfortunately hard for the Dallas Mavericks these days.

For the Mavs, injuries are piling up like wood stacked on a bonfire. Especially to key players who are very essential to what the Mavs are trying to accomplish this season.

Superstar point guard Luka Dončić has missed the past three games with a left calf strain he developed during the Christmas Day loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. A game after scoring a season-high 46 points during Saturday’s loss in Portland, superstar guard Kyrie Irving sat out Monday’s 110-100 loss in Sacramento due to right shoulder soreness.

Two other starters – Klay Thompson and Dereck Lively II – missed the game against Sacramento with an illness and left hip contusion, respectively. That means four-fifths of the Mavs’ starting lineup didn’t play in the game against Sacramento.

In addition, Naji Marshall, one of the Mavs’ top reserves, has missed the past two games because the NBA suspended him for four games for his role in last Friday’s altercation against the Phoenix Suns. Irving and Thompson will be back in the lineup for Wednesday’s road game against the Houston Rockets, while Lively is listed as questionable.

All of this has served as the backdrop for the New Year’s Day game against the Rockets, who will be without forward Amen Thompson due to his part in Sunday’s fracas against the Miami Heat. Whatever the starting lineup will be for the Mavs against Houston, it likely will be their 16^th of the season in just 34 games.

Following the loss to the Kings, coach Jason Kidd said: “I had to extend everybody’s minutes. It’s what happens when you’re short-handed.

“We had (17) turnovers and we struggled with scoring for a minute there, but I thought the group came out with the right intent and we played as well as we could. (We) just kind of ran out of gas.”

While Kidd said “fatigue just caught up to” the Mavs against the Kings, he knows they need to fill up their tanks, because the young Rockets have made a decent living this season from running up and down the court at a breakneck pace.

And if the Mavs find themselves short-handed again, Washington said: “At the end of the day, it’s a next man up mentality. Everybody’s got to come in and work.

“We just got to come out with that mentality every night and play good Mavs basketball.”

Here are some other nuggets surrounding the game between the Mavs and Rockets.

*This is the finale of a four-game road trip for the Mavs before they head home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. The Mavs started this trip with a 98-89 victory last Friday in Phoenix. But on the second night of a back-to-back in Portland last Saturday – the trip from Phoenix to Portland was over 1,000 miles – the Mavs lost to the Trail Blazers, 126-122, despite 46 points from Kyrie Irving. On Monday, with nearly half of the team out with an injury or illness, the Mavs lost in Sacramento, 110-100.

*This is the third game of a five-game home stand for the Rockets, who will play host to the Boston Celtics on Friday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday before starting a four-game road trip Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.

*The Mavs will again be without five-time All-Star point guard Luka Dončić, who has a strained left calf. Dallas is now 7-4 this season in games Dončić has missed. Naji Marshall will be sidelined in Wednesday’s game for his involvement in a scuffle last Friday in Phoenix. The NBA handed Marshall a four-game suspension, meaning he’ll also have to sit out Friday’s home game against Cleveland.

*The Rockets are coming off of two straight painful losses to open this five-game home stand. Last Friday, Houston was ahead of Minnesota by 15 points with less than five minutes left, and wound up losing that game,113-112. And in the last nine minutes of his past Sunday’s game against the Miami Heat, the Rockets scored just 10 points on 4-of-20 shooting and ended up losing that contest, 104-100. Rockets forward Amen Thompson and Heat guard Tyler Herro were ejected from the game following an altercation with less than a minute remaining in the game. Houston guard Jalen Green, Miami guard Terry Rozier, Rockets coach Ime Udoka and assistant coach Ben Sullivan were also ejected. A few seconds earlier, Rockets guard Fred VanVleet was ejected from the game for making contact with a referee.

*Mavs guard Spencer Dinwiddie scored 11 of his season-high 30 points in the first quarter of Monday’s game in Sacramento. Dinwiddie was 8-of-18 from the field, 3-of-6 from three-point range and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. P. J. Washington tallied 19 of his season-high 28 points against Sacramento in the first quarter, including pouring in 16 straight points during one stretch that covered six minutes and 57 seconds.

*Now sitting in third place in the Western Conference, the Rockets have a bevy of players who can go get buckets. Jalen Green (19.3 ppg), Alperen Sengun (18.9 ppg, 10.8 rpg), Fred VanVleet (15.4 ppg, 6.0 apg) and Dillon Brooks (13.9 ppg) are the top production players for the Rockets. They are also getting high marks from Amen Thompson (11.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg), Jabari Smith Jr. (11.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Tari Eason (11.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg).

*The Mavs blocked a season-high 13 shots against the Sacramento Kings on Monday. Daniel Gafford led the way with five blocks, P. J. Washington, Jaden Hardy and Dwight Powell had two blocks apiece, and Quentin Grimes and Maxi Kleber each picked up a blocked shot. Gafford also collected five blocks in Saturday’s game at Portland. The Mavs’ previous season high of 12 blocks occurred Oct. 28 against Utah and was matched on Dec. 5 against Washington.

*The Rockets came to Dallas and defeated the Mavs, 108-102, on Oct. 31. Jalen Green finished that game with 23 points and 12 rebounds, Alperen Sengun collected 17 points and 12 boards, Dillon Brooks tallied 17 points, Tari Eason scored 15 points, Jabari Smith Jr. had 14 points and six rebounds, and Amen Thompson added 10 points.

DALLAS MAVERICKS (20-13) at HOUSTON ROCKETS (21-11)

When: 7 p.m., Wednesday

Where: Toyota Center, Houston

TV: KFAA-29

Radio: KEGL 97.1 FM The Eagle, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish)

X: @DwainPrice