DALLAS — Mavericks backup center Brendan Haywood is again uncertain in the NBA Finals after managing to play only three minutes in Game 4 because of his strained right hip flexor.
“I didn’t have a lot of lateral movement, so it was tough to be out there,” Haywood said Wednesday.
Haywood came out in the fourth quarter of Game 2 with the injury, and didn’t play in Game 3. Neither he nor coach Rick Carlisle were sure of his status for tonight’s Game 5.
“Don’t know. So, we’ll see. The more rest, the more treatment, the better,” Haywood said.
Carlisle said it is a tough situation.
“He gave it a shot (Tuesday) night, and it just wasn’t quite where it needed to be,” Carlisle said. “But with each day hopefully Mother Nature can help out. And we’ll see if we can have him ready for (tonight).”
Off the bench again.
Mavericks guard DeShawn Stevenson said he expects to be coming off the bench instead of starting again in Game 5.
“Yeah, I think we have to, it worked,” Stevenson said. “We’ve got to keep the same thing going.”
Carlisle switched his lineup before Game 4, inserting J.J. Barea into the lineup instead of Stevenson. The Mavericks won 86-83 to even the series at two games each.
Stevenson came off the bench with his first double-figure scoring game in more than four months, scoring all 11 of his points in the second quarter. That included three 3-pointers in a span of just more than 3 1/2 minutes.
Footnotes.
Tuesday’s Game 4 drew an 11.1 overnight rating, up 22 percent from the fourth game of the Heat- Mavericks title matchup in 2006.
• Representatives of the NBA owners and players completed a second day of meetings, scheduled two more for next week, and expressed hope that continued dialogue before the June 30 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement could head off a work stoppage.
• Hawks forward Marvin Williams underwent minor surgery on his lower back and is expected to resume full basketball activities in six to eight weeks.
• Magic guard Gilbert Arenas was fined an undisclosed amount by the NBA for making an apparent joke offensive to women on his “agentzero” Twitter page.
The Associated Press
