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Nowitzki on Mavs: 'It's been a strange couple of days for this franchise'

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It's been a rough week for the Dallas Mavericks, who find themselves in an 0-2 deficit to the Houston Rockets, seemingly divorced permanently from guard Rajon Rondo and without Chandler Parsons due to a season-ending injury.

The longest-tenured Maverick, however, is trying to stay positive.

"It's been a strange couple of days for this franchise," Dirk Nowitzki told reporters Friday, hours before the Mavs play the Rockets in Game 3 at American Airlines Arena, where Dallas went 27-14 this season. "But I think when you're down and stuff is not really going right, you focus on the game plan, you make a few adjustments ... and let it all rip.

"We're in front of our home crowd."

For what it's worth, Nowitzki is trying to put the various fiascoes inflicting the Mavs into perspective.

"I've been in this league for 17 years," Nowitzki said. "I've even dealt with some personal issues in the playoffs, which was ugly." (In the midst of the 2009 playoffs, Nowitzki's then-girlfriend was arrested on fraud charges.)

As far as the Rondo situation goes, Nowitzki said he couldn't speak to whether the much-maligned point guard's back is injured, something the team maintains, but no one believes. 

"I don't know if anything happened with his back," the 36-year-old German said. "I didn't talk to him. I wasn't there if (owner Mark) Cuban talked to him."

In terms of the team's play, Nowitzki believes the Mavs haven't done a bad job guarding James Harden, saying: "We've actually done a decent job on Harden. But we are paying a lot of attention to him on pick-and-rolls."

Harden scored 24 points in each of the first two games. While he only shot a combined 9-of-28, he was also 28-for-30 from the foul line.

Another issue facing the Mavericks concerns what appears to be a surprising defensive weakness with center Tyson Chandler on the floor.

Game 3 has an unusual 6 p.m. local start in Dallas, indicating ESPN preferred the matchup for the first game of its main network doubleheader over the Raptors-Wizards, who tip at 8 p.m. ET in Washington.

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