Will Luka play or is he “hurt?”

We’ve had this conversation several times this year. Should the Mavericks be resting their young stars? Can they afford to in a tight Western conference playoff race?

My answer? Probably not. At least if you’d like to get up the standings and have a better first-round matchup or avoid the play-ins.

But it’s clear this team and franchise firmly believes in the big picture. And we don’t have any real choice other than to trust the staff who is making these decisions.

Its still just frustrating however, to know Luka can play, see him on the sideline, yet not be out there. Especially considering how they performed last night.

Now hey, if the back is at all bugging him, this was justified. But it’s not coincidence every game Luka has missed with “injury” has been apart of a back-to-back set. You can come to your own conclusions about that.

Will the team allow KP to build on his strong run of play?

Much like Luka, this franchise takes extreme caution with Kristaps Porzingis. And I think most folks are okay with that, considering his extensive history with injuries.

However, I think it’s important he plays tonight. One, the team needs to win and avoid any losing skid. And two, he’s such a rhythm-based player. Getting hurt or missing time can derail that.

After his last two strong performances, that is not a chance I’d like to take. He needs to continue to play & play well, especially with Luka on the floor. Ultimately, we’ll see what they do, but they can’t keep taking one step forward and two steps backwards with him.

Can they at least get a handle on Zion?

Lets be clear here: The Mavericks are not stopping this dude. Hell, nobody in the league is, but especially not this team.

The last time they saw him, he dropped 36 points on only one missed shot. Last night against Denver, it was 39 points on 19 shots.

The guy is the most dominant paint scorer we’ve seen in sometimes. Bordering on impossible to stop. But if the Mavericks want to find a way to win a tough back-to-back, they’ll need to at least provide a little resistance.

KP & Maxi are game for that task. We’ve seen them do it before…but it won’t be easy.