APRIL 18: Doncic won’t play tonight, the team’s PR department tweets.
APRIL 17, 4:00pm: Dallas announced (Twitter link) that Doncic has indeed been listed as doubtful for Game 2. The team added that swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. and reserve guard Frank Ntilikina will remain sidelined as well.
APRIL 17, 1:34pm: Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Doncic appears doubtful to suit up for Dallas in Game 2 of the club’s second game against the Jazz Monday, per Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Woj notes that Doncic is not officially sidelined yet, but it appears that his left calf strain is still affecting him enough that he may have to wait a bit longer to make his 2022 postseason debut. The fifth-seeded Jazz beat the fourth-seeded Mavericks 99-93 on Saturday, with Dallas down its best player.
“Yesterday was another good day, and today he’s back on the court [doing light shooting for two straight days], so that’s a plus,” head coach Jason Kidd said of the star’s progress back from the injury. “And we’ll see how he feels tomorrow.”
This report is not entirely unexpected, as Woj had previously indicated that there was “significant concern” Doncic would miss this second contest as he continues to rehab the calf. Falling down 2-0 at home to an experienced Jazz team, ahead of a road trip to Utah, would be quite the deficit for Dallas.
In 65 games for a 52-30 Mavericks club this season, Doncic averaged a stellar 28.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG and 8.7 APG on .457/.353/.744 shooting splits. The 23-year-old has made the playoffs for the third straight season, but has yet to lead his team beyond the first round.
No 1st round for him
He has to play at least half the games for us in the first round for the Mavs to have a chance to move on to round 2. I’m hoping he’s back for game 3 at least.
Calf can turn to an achille long term injury … no real point of taking the risk to loose Luka for next year, if you 0-2 with the next 3 games in UTAH… Better Luck next Time
Back game 3 is my prediction
Gobert spend 3 weeks out around ASG for a minor calf injury … Remember KD had a calf injury untill it went to an achille tear … way to risky if the serie turns 0-2.
I membees …IM guessing the call comes down to Luka himself ultimately
Seeing what Ive seen from Luka so far he will suit up
Where’s the dude in the last thread who said that not having Doncic was “actually good” for the Mavs?
This could be a 7 games serie even without Luka
I am going with no on that.
Honestly, it probably wouldn’t even be an issue if Frankie Nicks wasn’t out as well /s
Sadly that’s all folks for DAL, they had such an easy pairing with UTA now & PHO after, but sadly they can’t win without Luka, next year they will be back!
Funny how the whole Dallas team adopted the Doncic’s attitude of crying and complaining. Doncic’s trademark before the (unquestionabel) talent. A bunch of grown-man moaners :D
Not close to being accurate.