With Friday's home game against Portland kicking off a back-to-back with a big intra-division matchup at New Orleans on Saturday, coach Avery Johnson sent his big-minute players home early on Thursday.
Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry and Erick Dampier -- not DeSagana Diop -- left after film session while the other players went through a light shootaround and some running.
The back-to-back is already the fourth of the season and one of two coming up this week.
-- Jeff Caplan
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