The Mavericks suffered a 108-89 loss at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday evening. Outside a brief dust-up between J.J. Barea and Russell Westbrook, the game was hardly competitive. In the loss, Deron Williams, Wes Matthews, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki, and Zaza Pachulia all received some unrequested paid time off. They were not happy campers about it.
Before the game, some of the players expressed their frustrations about the rest to ESPN Dallas’ Tim MacMahon:
“I saw red,” Matthews said before watching the Mavs’ bench players get blown out, 108-89. “I did a lot of cussing, but I don’t think it was at him. I think [assistant coach Jamahl] Mosley intercepted me before it got to that.”
Matthews, Parsons and Williams played more than 40 minutes in a tough overtime game against the Cavs the night before. Both Matthews and Parsons are coming off scary offseason surgeries that required extensive rehab. Williams has a lengthy injury history over the last three seasons and has battled a nagging hamstring issue over the past month. Dirk is, well, old. These are all legitimate reasons why the Mavs training staff and Rick Carlisle are being cautious with preventative maintenance.
Carlisle made a similar decision last week when he rested four starters against the Pelicans after playing a double overtime game the night before. Although the players are frustrated, they likely understand the reasoning behind the decision. However, that doesn’t mean they have a say in the matter:
“Hell no. No,” Carlisle said. “I’ll say this about our guys: They always want to play. They really do. Wes Matthews, he’s difficult when it comes to this stuff. He and I have been close to a couple of fistfights, but hey, that’s all right. I like guys that are battlers, but we have a big picture to consider here.
The Mavericks have a long-term plan for their players’ health. They’ve stretched out Nowitzki’s career about as long as possible and they’d like to do the same with everyone else, whether it’s through this season or beyond.
(Via ESPN Dallas)
