On Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks ended their regular season with a 130-120 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Dallas finishes the regular season with 52 wins, the most in a season since 2011. Unfortunately, an injury to Luka Doncic overshadowed what should have been a celebratory night.
With 2:34 remaining in the third quarter and the Mavericks up 94-76, Doncic planted his leg to change direction when he suddenly called timeout, hunched over, and grabbed his left calf.
He limped off the court and went directly to the locker room with Director of Player Health and Performance Casey Smith for treatment. The injury has thus far been labeled as a strained left calf, but more testing will be conducted.
Luka Dončić (left calf strain) will not return to tonight’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) April 11, 2022
“Hopefully, it’s not too serious,” said Head Coach Jason Kidd, who said he had not met with Doncic or Smith before talking to reporters after the game. “We’ll know more tomorrow and go from there.”
When he left with the injury, Doncic was leading the Mavericks in points (26), assists (9), and rebounds (8). By the end of the game, he still was the leader in those categories, signifying how heavily Dallas relies on the All-Star player.
The injury to Doncic in the regular-season finale is disheartening especially given that the game wound up being meaningless. The fourth-place Mavericks could have taken third place in the Western Conference with the win and a loss by Golden State against New Orleans.
However, Golden State was up by more than 20 points against New Orleans when the injury occurred, who did not play several regular starters. Golden State won 128-107 to secure third place in the West.
Kidd said, before the game, he would not be keeping track of scores elsewhere. He faced questions as to why Doncic was still in the game that turned out to be meaningless.
“I thought he was cramping,” Kidd said. “I don’t know what it is until I talk to Casey and him, but again, we weren’t playing the New Orleans score. We were just trying to get better with the long layoff.”
Dallas will have six days off before they play in the first playoff game for the NBA this Saturday, April 16, in Dallas against the fifth-seed Utah Jazz. Doncic’s treatment and recovery from injury will undoubtedly be the main storyline leading up to the game.
The Dallas Mavericks will host the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of the First Round of the NBA Playoffs on Saturday, April 16 at 12:00 p.m. CT. https://t.co/ujfOVy4TgC
— Mavs PR (@MavsPR) April 11, 2022
Kidd added that he was planning to rest all the starters in the fourth quarter, so Doncic suffered his injury 2:24 before his night was likely to be finished.
Fellow starting guard Jalen Brunson told reporters he briefly talked with Doncic after the game and “asked if he was good.”
“He looked at me and said yeah,” Brunson said. “We kind of just looked at each other [and] nodded.”
“For some reason, I feel like he’ll be ready to go,” Brunson added. “Knowing the competitor he is, I feel like he’ll be ready. Unfortunate, but I mean, a competitor like that, you can’t keep down for long.”
Some things were positive from the game. Dorian Finney-Smith scored 16 points in the third quarter alone. After going into halftime with the game tied at 59, Finney-Smith helped the Mavericks outscore the Spurs 38-23 in the third quarter.
Dallas held on for the win with all reserve players that typically do not see much action playing the fourth quarter.
Dwight Powell set a new Mavericks franchise record by making 18 consecutive shot attempts over four games. Powell shared the previous record at 14 straight made shots with DeAndre Jordan and Erick Dampier.
Powell broke the record with his first made shot of the game but broke the streak when he missed his first shot of the game on his fifth attempt. He made 5-of-6 attempts for 12 points.
Dallas also beat San Antonio in all four meetings this season to sweep the season series against the Spurs for the first time ever.
