MEMPHIS – For the Dallas Mavericks and all of the other Western Conference teams in the same precarious position, let
the scoreboard watching begin.
At least that was the question posed to coach Jason Kidd on Monday night at the FedEx Forum, where his team dropped a disappointing 112-108 contest to the Memphis Grizzlies. The loss dropped the Mavs to 36-36 and into seventh place out West – half-a-game behind the sixth-place Golden State Warriors (37-36).
Kidd actually doesn’t believe in keeping an eye on what’s going on around the league while his team is on the court playing. In his mind, that’s counter-productive.
“For us it’s just matter of taking care of what’s in front of us,” Kidd said. “We can’t worry about the scoreboard watching of who’s playing who. We can only focus on Memphis, and then whenever the next game is and that’s our next opponent, then that’s who we have to focus on.
“Just understanding, as someone just brought up, the standings are close. Two-game swings. If you win one you can be in the eighth spot and finally wake up in the sixth spot. But if you can take care of business and you can continue to keep winning, you never know how high you will finish. We can’t hope for someone else to beat someone because it tends to go the other way.”
That being said, the Warriors have been struggling on the road this season. And they actually only picked up their eighth road win of the season against a staggering 29 losses Monday when they went into Houston and defeated the Rockets, 121-108.
Those same Warriors will be in Dallas on Wednesday to take on the Mavs in a game that could go a very long way towards determining playoff seedings. Especially with the Mavs only having 10 games left this season.
“Hopefully, they’ll have troubles playing against us on the road,” center Christian Wood said. “Hopefully, we don’t be the ones that they turn that leaf around.
“So just stay focused, try and come back and practice tomorrow, watch film, talk to each other and just stay together, stay poised.”
KIDD IN THE PILE: Coach Jason Kidd couldn’t resist jumping into the pile that jumped on center Maxi Kleber after his game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer was the catalyst the Mavs used to clip the Los Angeles Lakers, 111-110, last Friday.
“I jumped in the pile,” Kidd said. “I was excited. (It was) just the excitement for the guys, for us being in that position. But to be able to celebrate, I probably did lose myself for a second.
“But it was fun, because Maxi, that’s how much we care about each other. And to see Maxi feel bad. He felt so bad, but everyone kept saying we won the game, we picked you up.”
Kleber committed two blunders with under two seconds remaining which helped last Wednesday’s game in San Antonio go into overtime. However, the Mavs eventually won that game 137-128 in overtime, and he bounced back two days later with the clutch game-winner against 
the Lakers.
“To be in that situation and to deliver meant a lot,” Kidd said. “I think it just showed everybody’s character of caring and how much that made Maxi feel good.”
And when the players piled on Kleber following his game-winning three-pointer, Kidd joined in on the pile.
“I didn’t tear anything or sprain anything,” Kidd said. “We’ve seen some celebrations of other athletes getting hurt or not athletes getting hurt. I was cautious, because I just leaned. I didn’t jump. It was exciting to see everybody there.
“But it was another coach that jumped in there too, and he just had surgery, so I think we were more worried about (shooting coach) Peter (Patton) than myself. But I think it’s hard to win in this league, so to see that and to be a part of it, I just wanted to be a part of that excitement.”
MORANT RETURNED: Grizzlies All-Star guard Ja Morant was on the sidelines in street clothes for Monday’s game against the Mavs.
The NBA suspended Morant for eight games without pay for “conduct detrimental to the league” after he posted on his Instagram account a
video of himself allegedly brandishing a gun at a club in suburban Denver. Morant’s suspension ended Monday, and Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins is hopeful of having his superstar back in the lineup in time for Wednesday’s game against the Rockets.
Morant met with his teammates before the Mavs-Grizzlies game.
“The reception was great,” Jenkins said. “Everyone welcomed him with open arms — excited to have him back. He addressed the team, addressed his teammates and the staff.
“He got a play group in earlier (Monday) as part of the ramp up process that we talked about, so he’s got that under his belt. He’s going to be a part of practice tomorrow, and then obviously we’re hopeful for Wednesday so long as everything medically clears out. But that’s been the ramp up process on top of individual work he was doing separately, so good first day back and excited to have him back with the team.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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