Dallas Mavericks forward felt pretty good after the practice. Plans to up the temp gradually…..
When Dallas Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki went through an arthroscopic surgery on Oct.19, it was expected that he will make a comeback within six weeks. His recovery process has however been frustratingly slow and it was only
yesterday, Wednesday, when the 11 times All-Star, who has never missed more than 9 consecutive games in his career, was able to practice on the court.
The practice was relatively light, and the power forward didn’t complain of any discomfort afterwards;
"We'll just see how it goes," said Nowitzki, "This is the first day stopping, pushing off, moving. We'll see how it reacts. I'm going to do that a couple times, and do some contact for a while. Maybe any time after Christmas, that'll
be fun."
Nowitzki’s return is however out of the picture, and even a Christmas comeback will be something of a surprise.
Mavericks have managed decently without Nowitzki so far. They are 12-13 into the season, as they prepare to embark on a tough six games stretch, involving all teams with above 50 percent record. That trip starts with the defending
champions Miami Heat, and to add to Rick Carlisle’s woes, Mavs will also be without recently acquired veteran point guard Derek Fisher, who has a strained tendon in right knee. Elton Brand (groin) and Brandan Wright (ankle) will also be game time decisions.
The team will rely heavily on O.J. Mayo, Darren Collison and Chris Kaman, and will continue to do so even when Nowitzki is fit enough for game action. That was something that the German giant, who has career figures of 22.9 points
and 8.3 rebounds per game, also addressed;
"That's something I guess we need to talk about when it gets to that point," Nowitzki said. "I'm not opposed to obviously coming off the bench at the beginning and slowly finding my rhythm, but I think that's something we need
to talk about when it gets closer. We haven't addressed that yet, but it's obvious I'm not going to play 35 minutes my first game out."
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