Mavs.com report: Mavs cautious but not concerned about Dirk's knee
Mavs.com report: Mavs cautious but not concerned about Dirk's knee
DALLAS – Should Dallas Mavericks fans be worried about the health of their beloved 7-foot German superstar?
All signs point to a no after 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki battled through a similar situation last season.
Missing Tuesday night’s 99-85 loss to F.C. Barcelona Regal due to a right knee effusion as the Mavericks wrapped up their European exhibition tour, Nowitzki didn’t seem mentality fazed by the minor injury. Neither did Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle.
“Well, we're monitoring it very closely,” Carlisle said of the injury to his go-to player. “We'll proceed as we feel we need to. Beyond that, I can't really comment on it. I mean, he's got right knee swelling and we decided not to play him because he's got swelling. So, that's where it's at.”
After getting off to a sluggish start last season following a shortened training camp and a condensed schedule, Nowitzki required a week-long hiatus from game action to rest and recondition the same knee. Still, he went on to make his 11th straight All-Star team, leading the Mavs into the playoffs for a 12th consecutive season after averaging 21.6 points and 6.7 rebounds in 62 of a possible 66 games.
But, after running through a gantlet of appearances in his home country of Germany, in addition to the team’s practices and community service events for NBA Europe 2012, Nowitzki appeared to be playing on tired legs while producing just eight points on 3-of-9 shooting and grabbing five rebounds in just less than 34 minutes of action during Saturday’s 89-84 win over ALBA Berlin.
And with a full month of training camp before the season opener in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Oct. 30, Nowitzki hopes to take advantage of the added time to get the knee back to 100 percent.
“Well, 'scared' is a strong word. Obviously it's unfortunate. I think last year I dealt with it and we did some treatment twice, and after that the swelling didn't come back for the rest of the season. I'm hoping the same for this year,” Nowitzki explained. “Just the body has got to get used to all the running and jumping again, and hopefully it'll respond here in the next week or so and then I'll play throughout the whole season. But just kind of got to wait and see how it's going to respond next week.
“The good thing or the different thing this year is that my legs are actually pretty strong,” he added. “I lifted all through the summer, so hopefully this is just a temporary thing that I've got to deal with. You know, actually I was training with [Nowitzki’s mentor Holger Geschwindner] the last four weeks before I came over. It was fine, no swelling at all, but I guess you can't simulate practice and the first couple games and scrimmages and stuff. I guess hopefully it's just a temporary reaction. But yeah, I mean, swelling-wise it's the same as last year, so I don't think there is a big difference.”
