4:50pm: Doncic won’t play tonight, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. The Mavs are planning to bring back Doncic for Saturday’s Game 4, Marc Stein tweets.
3:55pm: Mavericks guard Luka Doncic appears unlikely to return for Game 3 against Utah on Thursday night, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Doncic is dealing with a strained left calf that he suffered in the team’s regular season finale. He was officially listed as questionable for Game 3 and has increased his activity in recent days after a report earlier this week indicated there was optimism Doncic would be able to suit up for Game 3 or Game 4 — it seems Mavs fans will have to wait at least one more game.
“We’ll see how he feels at game time,” coach Jason Kidd said on Thursday, adding that he expected Doncic to go through his normal pregame warmup routine. The All-NBA guard went through an extended individual workout after Dallas’ shootaround and said he was “feeling great” after the session.
Wojnarowski and MacMahon note that Thursday is 11 days removed from when Doncic was injured, and the average NBA player missed 16 days this season with a calf strain, per InStreetClothes.com. The Jazz will host Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Saturday before the series shifts back to Dallas for Game 5 next Monday.
“He is a player that has so much ahead of him in his future, so him being smart about it is key,” said Mavs guard Jalen Brunson, whose career-high 41 points keyed the Game 2 win. “I think it just shows the trust that he has in us as well. He trusts us. He’s just making the best decision for himself. As teammates, we respect that.”
Dallas will continue to rely on Brunson and Spencer Dinwiddie in Doncic’s absence. The series between the fourth and fifth seeds is currently tied at one game apiece.
No need to rush back in… he needs to get at 100% if not, well there is always next year, but he has 10 years ahead of him to totally own the league, this is only one playoff, no biggie, take it easy, get well & come back strong next season, that is the best advice, don’t anything silly & end up like Grant Hill, he was one of the greatest ever until he tried to play injured in the playoffs & then… we all know how it went for him!
Doncic and Mavs are thinking about 2nd round and want to preserve Doncic as much as possible. He is a gamer and will play to get by Utah.
Not needed this series it seems. Gobert should start off the bench, Dallas just plays around him make him look obsolete.