Sore Knee Sits Dirk Nowitzki Out Four Games

Saturday night was the first of four games the Dallas Mavericks will being playing without starting forward Dirk Nowitzki.

So far, so good. The Mavs left New Orleans with an 83-81 lead with Dirk on the sideline in his Sunday best. Rick Carlisle spoke briefly post game regarding the why Dirk will be sitting out the next four games, including tonights match against the Hornet, while working out his sore right knee.

“This is not a rest situation. Quite the opposite,” Carlisle said. “He’ll go through harder workouts this week than he would if we were having practice days and in some cases he’ll go multiple times.”

We know it’ not too serious or a tendinitis case or they mot likely wouldn’t be working him out at all.period. It was mentioned that Dirk, of course preferred to play and carry on, but it appears other opinion prevailed. I guess we can only hope for the best. I don’t think there is any question Dirk will do all he can to get back to his own personal accepted game play efforts – which is one of the reaons he is so successful; hard-work, determination, motivation and discipline.

With Dirk not suited up tonight, we saw Lamar Odom starting and racking up 16  points for his season high. He did not finish the game and Carlisle answered that for us afterwards. Many people have been wondering why Odom has only been playing an average of 20 minutes a game, it was confirmed tonight, at least, that he could in fact play more, if he wanted to. In other words, he requested not to play, with Carlisle stating, “he said he was tired” referring to Odom.

We are getting there. Tonight was a much needed win. Keep on rockin’ it Mavs.

Fun Facts:

• Mavericks’ streak of holding opponents under 100 points breaks record and hit 14 consecutive games with Saturday’s win.
• Do you know how the Mavericks got their name? According to NBA.com, in March 1980, radio station WBAP conducted a Name the Team contest. More than 4,600 entries were received and turned over to a five-person committee. The committee narrowed the choices to Mavericks, Wranglers and Express, ultimately recommending Mavericks to owner Donald Carter.
• The Mavericks have not defeated the Hornets on the road since 3/27/07 (won a 105-89 decision).
• Became the only player in NBA history to register 150 three-point field goals and 100 blocks in a season (he had 151 three-point field goals and 101 blocks in the 2000-01 season)