Frequent-flying Mavs almost done

The Mavericks took off from Dallas on Saturday, bound for San Francisco, where they will play the Golden State Warriors Sunday evening.

That game will mark the end of a crazy, exhausting and to some extent season-saving 17-game stretch.

What made this 37-day run crazy?

Glad you asked. The Mavericks beat the holiday rush when it came to traveling. For instance:

They played 13 of these 17 games on the road.

They went from coast (Golden State) to coast (Miami) to coast (Portland) to coast (Washington) to coast (Golden State again).

They flew 16,406 air miles, or at least, they will have flown that much when they touch down on Monday in Dallas.

To put that in perspective, they’ve gone two-thirds of the way around the earth.

By time zone, they played three games in the Pacific, four in the Mountain, six in the Central and four in the Atlantic.

What a long, strange trip it’s been as they never played consecutive games in the same city during the whole stretch.

It all comes to an end Sunday. After they visit the Warriors for the second time in this grueling span, the Mavericks return home for four games that will take them through Christmas Day.

“Yeah, it’s been brutal, but it comes with it (the job),” P.J. Washington said Saturday. “It’s what we signed up for. It’s not going to change.”

As any seasoned traveler knows, continuous boarding and exiting of airplanes is a prime incubator for sickness and the Mavericks have had virtually everybody on the roster fighting an illness during most of this traveling

“It’s been tough,” Washington said. “Everybody’s been getting a little bit of it. But you just got to keep fighting and pushing through.”

The schedule, of course, will equal out. At least, most years it does.

The Mavericks have the designation of being a rare NBA team that will not have the same number of home games this season as road games. They will play 42 on the road and 40 at home because of the way the NBA Cup games worked out.

“It’s part of the business,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We knew what it (the schedule) was in September. If Golden State wins (Monday at Houston), we play at home. But we didn’t control that. That’s what it is. No one’s going to complain about it.

“We made it through that road trip pretty well. That just shows the character of the guys, with the illnesses and injuries. Now we have an opportunity to be home a little after tomorrow’s game. And then we go back on the road.”

Then, Kidd wondered out loud:

“So, are we the first team (to play 40 home, 42 road)? I think we are. But it is what it is. We’re going to play them and hopefully we’ll be better from it.”

It’s a safe bet that “home for the holidays” will feel really good this year for the Mavericks. They should enjoy it, because they’ll be leaving the day after Christmas for four games bridging the new year.

X: @ESefko