Center Luka? Mavericks To Use Creative Lineups With Kleber Out vs. Warriors

The Dallas Mavericks will be without Maxi Kleber when they take on the Golden State Warriors. Luka Doncic may have to spend some time at center?

The Dallas Mavericks will take on the Golden State Warriors on Thursday without Maxi Kleber as he is recovering from an ankle injury.

Heading into tip-off, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told reporters the team will deploy Davis Bertans at backup center with Kleber out. He went further as to say the team would like to experiment with deploying Luka Doncic at small-ball five, and it could happen as soon as this outing. 

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Maxi Kleber

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Maxi Kleber

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Maxi Kleber

Kleber has played an important role for the Mavericks as a center since the Kristaps Porzingis trade. Perhaps most important of his contributions was his defense against Jimmy Butler on switches when Dallas took down the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference late last month. 

The Mavericks already have experienced success getting creative with lineups against the Warriors. Dallas ultimately went away from deploying both Dwight Powell and ultimately Kleber in their recent epic 107-101 comeback win over the Warriors that featured a 19-1 run. 

The Mavericks benefited significantly from getting creative with lineup combinations in the second half of that outing. As mentioned in our analysis of the comeback win, Dallas outscored the Warriors by 19 points in the second half when Finney-Smith was on the floor without either Powell or Kleber in the lineup.

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Luka Doncic

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic

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Luka Doncic

Among the key differences for the Warriors in this matchup will be Klay Thompson's return to the lineup. He has not played in any of the three games Golden State has played against the Mavericks this season and this will be his first game back after a recent stretch of missed games. 

The Warriors still will be without Draymond Green as he continues to recover from a back injury ahead of the 2022 NBA playoffs. Golden State missed his defensive impact when the Mavericks went with their small-ball lineup as Nemanja Bjelica was targeted on switches at times, and it was more challenging to show and recover against Doncic when Steph Curry's man was deployed as a screener.