After welcoming his third child into the world on Friday, Dirk Nowitzki was back on the court Saturday for the Mavericks' practice.
The next two days will be critical in determining whether his right Achilles will allow him to play on the trip to New York on Monday and Boston on Wednesday.
"Probably half a practice and we'll see how it responds," Nowitzki said. "At this point, we'll go day by day. Obviously, we all know I'd love to play next week in some of these games. Two of my favorite road arenas coming up here and it would really hurt to miss those. I'm taking it sort of slow and ramping it up and we'll see how it feels in the next couple days."
The good news is that Nowitzki said he felt much better on Saturday than he did when he was shut down a week ago.
"It's definitely better," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't try to be back out here again. Last week, when we decided to shut it down against Portland, I just couldn't move any more. Every step was (bad)."
The return started earlier this week when Nowitzki did only cardio work, rehab and lifting weights _ nothing on the court. Athletic trainer Casey Smith flew back from Golden State on an overnight flight and helped Nowitzki with a Thursday workout on the court. That was his first day back on the court and it was a modest workout.
Meanwhile, he and wife Jessica welcomed Morris Nowitzki on Friday.
"Another baby boy," he said. "Wifey doing good, baby doing good. We've been busy this week. It's a blessing and we're enjoying it. Looks just like the other two. So it's a blessing."
Morris weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 21 inches long.
