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Mavericks trying to keep head above water through mounting injury woes

The Dallas Mavericks have seen a rash of injuries to their most important complements to Luka Doncic, which has left them toothless against the NBA’s best.

DALLAS — The week before Christmas brings a continuation of the Dallas Mavericks’ fight to keep pace with the Western Conference contenders as they wait for their starting rotation to return to full-strength.

After handling the Portland Trail Blazers 131-120 on Saturday, with another Luka Doncic 40-point night into the books, Dallas, winners of four of their last five, looked to test their resiliency against the defending World Champion Denver Nuggets in a prime-time marquee contest featuring two of the best players in the world.

Monday night’s national audience clash between the off the court Eastern European BFF’s produced another near triple-double from Doncic, an impressive performance given that Doncic was fighting an illness during the encounter. But Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets proved better, albeit also healthier.

Two-time NBA MVP Jokic was limited to 8 points on the evening and it didn’t even matter. The Mavs’ rotation was eventually exposed without their missing starters, with surging sub turned Kyrie Irving substitute Dante Exum being the only other player besides Doncic to score in double digits in a 130-104 Denver rout.

Playing through a game when not at 100%, when key pieces of your rotation can’t suit up, is admirable, but it comes at a cost. On one hand, Doncic is clearly putting the team on his proverbial back to give them a fighting chance. On the other, exhausting your best player so early in the season can be a detriment to his effectiveness down the stretch, as we saw last season when the Mavs failed to even make the expanded playoffs.

One thing about Doncic, he seems to want all the smoke, and the league is taking notice. Prior to Monday’s game and after a season full of worthy play, Doncic finally earned his first Western Conference Player of the Week honors for the 2023-2024 season. With Irving out and a makeshift rotation around him, the superstar guard has elevated his play yet again, averaging 39.9 points, 9.3 Rebounds, and 11.6 assists in December.

The 24 year-old is second in the league in three-pointers made per game, only looking up to Steph Curry, and is enjoying his highest make rate on three’s (.38%) of his career. Doncic has scored fewer than 18 points just once this season, has 16 Double-Doubles, and five Triple-Doubles with only one game missed to date.

Talk about your game backing up your mouth.

Doncic will need to leapfrog national conversation starters and former MVP’s Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the East, along with young darlings like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the West, but this season is certainly shaping as his strongest MVP race showing of his young career. For Doncic to have an honest shot, the team will need to keep pace in the standings with the respective teams of other contenders. Simply put, not even Doncic can do it alone.

Dallas (16-10) was a game up on 4th place Denver entering their Monday matchup, but now find themselves tied for sixth with their next opponent. The Mavs will need to shift their focus quickly to a surging Clippers team looking for their 9th straight win.

L.A absolutely demolished Rick Carlisle’s Indiana Pacers 151-127 on Monday night, with James Harden coming off a season-high 35 points. The Clippers big three scored a combined 90 and look to be salivating at a Dallas defense missing its starting rim protector and its dynamic scorer.

While Irving was out of a walking boot this week, the timetable for his return remains unknown. Dallas isn’t very hopeful for its starting center to be back by the end of the week either, barring a Christmas miracle.

Rookie Dereck Lively II remains in a walking boot for now as they wait out the week. A would-be contender shouldn’t need to have this much reliance on a rookie, but it is a nod to how quickly Lively has delivered on his potential, and how shallow the Mavs’ are in the front court. It will likely take another Herculean performance by Doncic to hang with the Clippers, one of his favorite targets of his young career.

On the other side of the playoff-bred rivalry with Los Angeles are the legacy matchups awaiting Dallas in the Texas Triangle. The Mavs will traverse the pothole filled Houston streets to face off against the Rockets Friday night. Houston remains in the play-in bracket of the West thanks to an elite defense, one that can easily double team Doncic and frustrate out a reaction.

The Mavs will then look to close out the weekend with the San Antonio Spurs in town on Saturday, their final game before a Christmas Day showdown against Phoenix.

The Spurs, who won their first game in a month over the weekend, have long accepted this season as a rebuilding year to get No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama acclimated to the NBA. Gregg Popovich’s squad appears already in a draft lottery mindset.

Wins against the Texas teams would help Dallas finish December strong as they traverse their injuries and look to reinforce their roster in the new year.

Do you think the Mavericks will be in good shape in the standings when the team is in better health? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.

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