Training Camp Report: Day 15 - Mayo battles lacerated shooting hand
Training Camp Report: Day 15 - Mayo battles lacerated shooting hand
DALLAS – Just hours after formally introducing themselves to their hometown fans with an open scrimmage Saturday night at the American Airlines Center, the Dallas Mavericks were right back on the practice court.
Hoping to fine-tune their skills before Monday night’s home preseason game against Houston, Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle and his players had one goal for Sunday’s practice: stay healthy.
With fourth-year guard Rodrigue Beaubois (sprained left ankle) the only scratch at this point for Monday’s game, the Mavs were happy to see the rest of the roster on the court in full after new addition O.J. Mayo was held out of Saturday’s scrimmage following a fall before the team’s 99-85 loss to F.C. Barcelona Regal to conclude the European tour. Slipping on a spill and suffering a laceration to his right hand after bracing his fall on a flight of stairs, Mayo was admittedly affected by the cut while finishing 0-of-7 from the field for just a single point in the loss.
Still, with the hand heavily bandaged, Mayo is expected to be ready to go against the Southwest Division rival Rockets.
“It’s good, man. Just a big chunk of skin came off during the fall,” Mayo told reporters as he removed his bandage from his shooting hand. “So, just gonna get it taped up and get it healed. It’s messed up it’s on the trigger hand, so it’s got me a little off right now, but I just have to get a good rhythm. It’s gonna help me in other parts of my game, like the left hand. … Any time the ball hits it, it’s a little stinger. With all this tape, the ball may rub a little different, so it’s a little aggravating. But, they said maybe the middle of next week it should heal up.”
With Mayo battling through the minor injury, the Mavs will try to improve to 2-1 this exhibition season after splitting their two European games. With that said, Carlisle admits the Mavericks will have to rely even more so on their overall team depth with Mayo not 100 percent and 11-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki battling through a right knee effusion that kept him out of the loss.
“We’ve gotta have a team of go-to guys,” Carlisle explained. “I mean, we’ve gotta have 15 guys that are locked and loaded, ready to step into their shots when they’re presented in the games. I feel the game is changing to where it’s becoming more of a strength-in-numbers league, and we’ve just gotta have a lot of guys ready to contribute.”
He added: “I see us having a nine or 10-man rotation (this season), probably. Look, it’s still early. You know, if you look at what went on last year, we still have two training camps left. I mean, there’s a long ways to go here, but it’s competitive, a lot of guys are doing a lot of good things and we need work on other things.”
Note: The Mavericks host the Houston Rockets in the preseason home opener Monday night at the American Airlines Center. The game will air on Fox Sports Southwest at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets for the game are still available and can be purchased by calling (214) 747-MAVS or by visiting Mavs.com.
