Dirk Nowitzki (left ankle/knee sprain) out indefinitely. Jerry Stackhouse (strained right groin) is day-to-day.
ROTATION: Starters -- Point guard Jason Kidd, Shooting guard Jason Terry, Small forward Josh Howard, Power forward Malik Allen, Center Erick Dampier. Bench -- Forward Devean George, Guard Jerry Stackhouse, Guard Eddie Jones, Forward Dirk Nowitzki, Forward Brandon Bass, Guard Antoine Wright, Forward Juwan Howard, Guard Jose Barea, Guard Tyronn Lue. PLAYER NOTES:
--F Dirk Nowitzki is responding positively to treatment back in Dallas with assistant trainer Dionne Calhoun. Nowitzki is running on the underwater treadmill and doing some light shooting on the court, though Sunday was a day off from rehab.
Avery Johnson has scheduled a private workout with Nowitzki and a few players on Tuesday. The team returns home after Monday night's game at the L.A. Clippers.
"He's progressing pretty good for the severity of that injury, but he's not ready to play right now," Avery Johnson said. "Once we get back, we'll take a group over and have a little light workout with him, and see where he goes from there because I haven't seen him face to face. But he's doing pretty good. He's shooting a little bit."
--G Jerry Stackhouse missed the Golden State loss with a strained right groin. The starting shooting guard suffered the injury Thursday at Denver and he wasn't ready to go after two days off.
Jason Terry replaced Stackhouse in the starting lineup, with Devean George and Antoine Wright moving up in the rotation.
--F Josh Howard continues to step up, hitting the 30-point plateau for the third straight time without Dirk Nowitzki in the lineup. Howard scored 36 at Golden State and almost single-handedly willed the team to a victory.
Not having Nowitzki, though obviously not ideal, has changed the offense in a way to suit Howard's strengths.
"We're more of a break team now, a lot less isolations and more pick-and-rolls," he said. "I need to stay aggressive."
