Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is expected to miss Sunday's game against the Cavaliers.

After suffering nasty cut on his elbow Friday night against the Rockets, Nowitzki was excused from practice on Saturday as a precaution.

"Everybody's going to have to be ready to step up and take up the slack," coach Rick Carlisle said. "We obviously hope for the best. But we don't know what the timetable's going to be. We've got to have other guys ready. We've had a lot of guys play well this year and I expect them to continue to do that in his absence."

Nowitzki is averaging 26.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.