The Dallas Mavericks will have a welcome sight with the return of star power forward Dirk Nowitzki, who went through a successful workout on Thursday and is set to suit up against the L.A. Clippers tonight, according to Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
Nowitzki will play for only the sixth time this season after missing the last 14 games with an achilles strain that's haunted him from the start of the season.
“The Achilles responded really well to all the stuff we did,” Nowitzki said. “But nothing is like replicating the games. We'll ease into it and play some spot minutes here and there and increase the workload as we go along. But I'm really happy. It hasn't been great for a long, long time. Hopefully we're over the worst and not looking back from here.”
The German international had an unsuccessful return early this season, as he came back prematurely in November and only played two games before shutting it back down again.
“I'm excited to be back and hopefully stay back this time,” he said. “I don't want to keep being in and out of the lineup all season.”
The Mavericks have withstood a myriad of injuries this season, ranging from Deron Williams to J.J. Barea, Seth Curry, Andrew Bogut, among others. If Nowitzki can provide his usual scoring contributions, it could muster some hope for a bottom-dwelling Dallas team that is tied with the Phoenix Suns with an 8-21 record for worst in the Western Conference.
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