Nowitzki out indefinitely with high ankle sprain, sprained knee

DALLAS -- Dirk Nowitzki came out of the locker room wearing a blue practice jersey and gray sweat pants, then headed downstairs to the Dallas Mavericks practice court. He slapped hands with Jason Kidd's son and joked with a few other folks nearby.

His light mood changed once he reached the crowd waiting for him.

Nowitzki met with reporters for about 10 minutes Monday to discuss the leg injury he sustained the previous day. He said he feels fortunate it's only a moderate high-ankle sprain and a mildly sprained knee and he hopes to be back in a week or two.

But he also realizes it could be longer and the Mavericks might miss the playoffs without him.

"This is probably the most painful time to miss games," Nowitzki said. "That's very discouraging."

The medical staff can't even set a rehabilitation plan for the reigning MVP until the swelling is gone, which will give them a better feel for the damage.

"We'll take it day-by-day, trust our trainers, trust our doctors, then go from there," Nowitzki said. "Hopefully I can move where I can already go on the underwater treadmill a little bit in the next couple of days so at least I can put some pressure on it and see how it feels."

If there was any good news for the Mavs, it's that the big German moved pretty quickly for a guy with a bulky protective boot on his left leg. And, while Nowitzki was talking, Kidd was putting in extra work on his jump shot. Dallas will need all the scoring it can get without Nowitzki's 23.6 points per game.

Dirk Nowitzki said he hopes to return in a week or two to help Dallas' playoff push. (Getty Images)

"I think this is a great challenge," Kidd said. "We feel that we still have a lot of the pieces to be successful. We know that it's not going to be easy."

It wasn't going to be easy, even with Nowitzki.

The Mavericks have lost three straight and are only 9-8 since Kidd arrived in a blockbuster trade that was supposed bolster their championship chances.

Now, with 12 games left, Dallas has some work to do to keep alive a streak of seven straight playoff trips. The Mavericks were a half-game ahead of Golden State and two up on Denver pending Monday night games for the Warriors and Nuggets.

Getting passed by Golden State would only drop Dallas from the seventh seed to the eighth. Also getting passed by Denver would sink the Mavericks into the lottery.