DALLAS -- A lot of top-flight players will not be in uniform tonight at 7:30 when the Dallas Mavericks entertain the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Mavs will be without Dirk Nowitzki (knee) and Shawn Marion (knee), while the T-Wolves will be without Kevin Love (hand), JJ Barea (foot), Ricky Rubio (knee) and Chase Budinger (knee). Also, Minnesota guard Brandon Roy (knee) is listed as a game-time decision.
So what changes will so many players among the walking wounded?
"It's about the same things,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "For us it's about hard play and taking care of the ball and making sure we rebound.
"Rebounding is a massive stat because every one that you don't get that they get is one less chance that you have and one more chance that they have. So it's almost like multiplying it by two.''
The Mavs have done the math in their last two games, and the addition -- not to mention their ppoor play on the court -- led to a pair of losses.
Last Friday in New York, the Knicks forced 20 Mavs' turnovers and wound up winning, 104-94. And on Saturday in Charlotte, mindless mistakes down the stretch by the Mavs led to the Bobcats eventually winning the game, 101-97, in overtime.
"I like our team and I like our talent,'' Carlisle said. "But we don't have the kind of talent to win on talent alone.
"That's pretty obvious, so we've got to do it with grit and guts. Ans we didn't show enough of that down the stretch in the Charlotte game.''
-- Dwain Price
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