The Dallas Mavericks have been hit by the injury bug all season long, but they'll see the return on Saturday of one of their all-time greats.
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Dirk Nowitzki will dress for the first time since being sidelined for 14 games with a strained right Achilles.
The Mavericks star went through an important practice on Friday (AEDT) to see how he would response, and all systems are a go for his return as Dallas visits the Clippers in Los Angeles Saturday.
"The Achilles responded really well to all the stuff we did," Nowitzki told Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News. "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."
Nowitzki returned at the end of November, and played just two games before having to sit to out again.
Head Coach Rick Carlisle wants to make sure he stays in the lineup long term.
"He went hard for an hour," Carlisle said. "He had two shirts on and the shirts were totally soaked. He's done the work. Things are in a very positive position right now so it's time to get going."
The 18-year vet has only started five games this season, averaging 12.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
