Luka Doncic experienced chest burning during the game last night. Although he was happy to return, the lingering Covid effects are concerning.
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Dallas Mavericks grabbed a much-needed win over Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday night. Last month they lost several players to the health and safety protocols that hurt their seeding. Mavs fell down from #4 seed to 8th in a span of 2 weeks as their young superstar Luka Doncic was sidelined.
At halftime, Mavericks had a 12-point lead and they did not let it slip away in the second half although OKC came dangerously close. The leading scorers for Dallas came off the bench and ensured the win to keep the team from falling below the 0.500 mark.
Luka Doncic says playing 5 on 5 after this long was hard for him
The 2x all-star has been the leader of the Mavs since his rookie season. He entered the health and safety protocols 20 days ago and missed over 10 games in that span. Dallas went 5-5 without him and several other key players, which isn’t too bad.
Luka was very close to having a triple-double in just his first game back. He had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 10 assists last night. Josh Giddey on the other hand broke LaMelo Ball‘s record of youngest player to have a triple-double but OKC ultimately lost.
Luka Doncic on returning from a career-long 10 game absence: “My chest was burning. .. It was a weird feeling, but happy. Very happy.”
Said he had “low energy, very tired all the time” for several days with COVID.
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) January 3, 2022
Doncic was a little rusty in his first game of the year, as he had 7 turnovers in the 31 minutes that he spent on the court. After the game, he revealed that he couldn’t properly judge where the ball was going. At times he thought the shot was good but ended up air balling it. He’s had little to no basketball activity during the time he was away.
As it turns out, he was affected by Covid and felt tired and weary all the time. But he is excited to be back and to get into shape for the upcoming matchup against Denver Nuggets on a back-to-back night in a bid to climb up the ladder in the west.
