Owing to an impressive 35-8 record at home, the Oklahoma City Thunder were projected to clinch Game 1 at home. However, nobody could’ve quite expected Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and co. to blow the Dallas Mavericks 117-95. In the Jason Kidd era, the Mavericks have historically bounced back in Game 2s after suffering a loss. However, the inclusion of Luka Doncic in the injury report has fans worried.
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The Dallas Mavericks are already missing out on two players – Maxi Kleber and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. Further, the medical staff also added Luka Doncic to the dreadful list as a “probable” due to his lingering right knee injury.
Luka Doncic has been suffering a right knee sprain throughout the opening-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite being a constant addition to the injury report, Luka decided not to be sidelined.
While the Mavericks did end up winning the series, there was a massive dip in his production – averaging fewer points, rebounds, assists, and a worse field goal percentage in more minutes than the regular season.
The Slovenian superstar seemed to be in a great amount of pain during Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinal. Constantly limping around, the 6ft 7” guard only managed to record a subpar outing – 19 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 turnovers on 31.6% FG and 12.5% 3FG, per NBA.com.
Following the contest, the five-time All-Star was even asked to comment on his injury. But he decided not to allow the knee pain to be an excuse for his awful display.
“Who cares (about the injury), we lost. We just gotta move on to the next one. I gotta be better, we gotta be better,” Doncic said in the postgame conference.
Luka after shooting 6/19 from the field:
"Who cares, we lost. We just gotta move on to the next one. I gotta be better, we gotta be better."pic.twitter.com/QFWUeWv7KL
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 8, 2024
To prevent falling 0-2 in the series against the best team in the West, Doncic will need to suit up tonight. If he does end up donning the jersey, fans of the Texas side will be pleased to learn that Luka could go on to put up a significantly better stat line. For, in the five games that he recorded 32% FG or less this campaign, he went on to redeem himself in the subsequent games – recording 34.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 8.6 assists on 50.3% FG, per ESPN.
