Dirk Nowitzki said he can do without questions about him coming into the season out of shape, as coach Rick Carlisle and owner Mark Cuban suggested as reasons for his early-season woes and the team's decision to shut him down for a week.

"No, I don't know why coach threw that out there," Nowitzki bristled when asked about his conditioning. "I didn't have any problem with conditioning at all. You can never work hard enough on conditioning, but that wasn't holding me back."

Asked if he was disappointed that Carlisle "threw that out there," Nowitzki said, "No, not at all. I don't really care what the media writes, anyway. You saw on my jump shot I had no lift, shot most of them straight-legged. Had no air time. This week I really focused on getting my legs under my shot again and bending down and getting low and getting the right base."