Mavs’ Nowitzki having ‘tough time’ personally; no explanation for arrest of woman at his home

Dirk Nowitzki having ‘tough time’ personally

DALLAS — Mavericks All-Star Dirk Nowitzki offered no explanation Thursday about the arrest of a woman at his home, saying only that he is having personal troubles now.

When asked about his relationship with 37-year-old Cristal Taylor, who was arrested on a probation violation and theft of services warrants Wednesday, Nowitzki declined comment.

“It’s pretty obvious that I’m going through a tough time in my personal life right now, but like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private,” he said. “I’m not at the stage where I can talk about it yet and feel comfortable talking about it.”

The Mavericks trail Denver 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals entering Game 3 on Saturday.

“I’ll be ready,” said Nowitzki, who returned with his team from Denver on Wednesday afternoon.

Dallas police said Taylor was taken into custody Wednesday morning at Nowitzki’s home. She remained in Dallas County Jail on Thursday on $20,000 bond. A jail official said there was no record of an attorney for Taylor.

A 2006 indictment alleging theft of service in Jefferson County in southeast Texas listed eight aliases for Taylor, who was accused of not paying for dental services in the range of $1,500 to $20,000.

The probation violation originated in St. Charles County, Mo., and stemmed from Taylor pleading guilty in 1999 to two counts of forgery and two counts of felony stealing, county prosecutor Jack Banas said. Taylor, who was accused of passing bad checks through a bank, had multiple five-year prison sentences suspended, Banas said.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said he didn’t expect this matter to affect the team.

“When you’re in NBA basketball and professional sports for a lot of years, there are a lot of distractions. … We’ll get through it,” Carlisle said. “This is a private, personal issue and I think we all need to respect that.”

Jason Kidd said the team was focused and had a great practice Thursday, its first since losing Game 2 on Tuesday night.

“I think he’s going to be fine,” Kidd said. “He’s a human being. Life isn’t perfect and you move on and learn from it. … We look for him to have a great game come Saturday.”