The Mavericks have ruled out big man Kristaps Porzingis for Game 5 of their series against the Clippers due to Porzingis’ lingering right knee injury, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times.
It’s a tough turn of events for the Mavs, who are currently tied with the Clippers at two games apiece and could badly use their top frontcourt scorer in Tuesday night’s contest. Porzingis also missed Game 4 and Dallas pulled out a win, but it took a superhuman effort from Luka Doncic — he scored 43 points to go along with 17 rebounds and 13 assists, and hit a buzzer-beating 28-footer in overtime to secure the victory.
Porzingis underwent an MRI on his injured right knee this week and there’s no indication it showed any structural damage, though head coach Rick Carlisle didn’t offer many specifics on the results.
Assuming the Mavs use the same lineup as they did in Game 4, it’ll be Trey Burke taking Porzingis’ spot in the starting five. Since Dwight Powell is also on the shelf, Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Tim Hardaway Jr. figure to play major frontcourt minutes, with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Boban Marjanovic getting some playing time off the bench.
Dallas would be further short-handed if Finney-Smith is unable to play — he’s currently listed as questionable due to a left hip strain and right hip soreness.
Luka Vs World!
Is your Luka poster in your room bigger than your Embiid poster?
Luka’s part of the world teams. Luka vs america
It’s the playoffs! Sore knee? Come on really, what a soft player with no heart!
Time to trade Porzingis
Hard to watch game 5. I bet Cuban will be on the growl. It’s a difficult roster to affect though… they’re at the cap and have several smaller renewable salaries. Courtney Lee will be easy to opt out of, but he has a plus on/off. Overall negligable trade values.