Dallas Mavericks: Kristaps Porzingis (injury recovery) out vs. Rockets

The Dallas Mavericks are in the midst of a brutal stretch. They had two sets of back-to-backs in the same week. Saturday’s game against the Houston Rockets marks the Mavs’ seventh game in ten days with five of them coming on the road.

Matters have been made worse by COVID issues. The Mavs have been without Josh Richardson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Maxi Kleber, Dwight Powell, and Jalen Brunson for part or all of that stretch. The fact that Dallas has won three of the six games including two straight coming into Saturday’s contest is impressive.

The return of Kristaps Porzingis mitigated the damage. He missed the first nine games of the season recovering from offseason knee surgery. The Unicorn returned just as the health and safety protocol issues sprung up. Porzingis has been impressive in the early going. He even played in both ends of his first back-to-back set, but the Mavericks still want to be cautious.

Kristaps Porzingis out as Dallas Mavericks face Rockets

The Mavs wanted to give KP a night off after a brutal stretch of games. Their goal is to keep him healthy for the postseason. Dallas has to get there first, but they feel like they can beat any team with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis in the lineup. The Mavericks listed KP as out on Jan. 23 because of knee injury recovery.

Fans should not worry about the absence. Porzingis should be back in the lineup on Monday as the Dallas Mavericks host the Denver Nuggets. Over his last four games, the Unicorn is averaging 22.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks a night. The best is yet to come as coach Carlisle is starting to use him more at the five. Expect a career year as he gets healthy and flourishes in the Mavericks system.

Check back to The Smoking Cuban after Saturday’s game for plenty more, plus all the latest on the Dallas Mavericks. Stay tuned.