Mavericks' Nowitzki out Saturday vs. 76ers

The Dallas Mavericks will play the second night of a back-to-back without star forward Dirk Nowitzki. 

Nowitzki is getting a day of rest against the lowly Philadelphia 76ers, according to Earl Sneed of NBA.com. 

Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle appears to simply be finding a way to get the 36-year-old off his feet for what should be a very winnable game versus the 0-15 76ers. Carlisle has already been careful with how much he pushes Nowitzki early on, evidenced by the 28.6 minutes per game the German native is averaging, which represents his lowest workload since his rookie season. 

In 32 minutes of action, Nowitzki scored 15 points and hauled in eight rebounds in Dallas' 106-102 road win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. He's averaging 19.4 points on 49.6 percent shooting from the field.