Fans of the Dallas Mavericks held their collective breath when they saw Luka Doncic off the floor in the third quarter of Game 3. At the moment, it looked like an injury that could plague the young star for the rest of the game. sideline, if not longer. However, that would not be the case.
Doncic soon returned to the bench and took up the game again. Given the state of play against the Los Angeles Clippers – the Mavericks never led to the first quarter – there were questions about whether it was wise for Doncic to return.
Despite the reasoning behind the decision, Doncic threw it out and played a few minutes more than before he was taken out of the game for good with nine minutes left in the fourth and the Mavs trailing, 110-95.
An MRI is scheduled for Saturday.
Here, Luka Doncic is running out of the arena. He says his ankle injury is not that bad but will have an MRI tomorrow. Importantly, Sunday’s game is early. pic.twitter.com/NQVxDEJ5og
– Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) August 22, 2020
After the match, the team talked about the injury:
Luka Doncic
“I do not know how it happened, but it’s not that bad. I was lucky; it’s my left ankle, it’s not my right. It’s a little sprained. We’ll know more tomorrow. ”
‘I just wanted to come in. I know we still had a chance to win. I wanted to help my teammates. I could walk a little, but I could not express my left leg. It was better to go out and leave someone [else] play. “
‘I do not think so [I could finish the game]. I could walk, but I could not express my left leg. We have great players, so it’s better to go with someone who can go 100 percent. ”
Rick Carlisle
‘I’m not sure the exact severity of Luka’s left ankle. One of the good things is it’s the good ankle, it’s not the one he’s smeared a few times in the last few years. We’ll know more tomorrow. He obviously came back and tried it, apparently, and was not great. We’ll see where he comes tomorrow and Sunday morning. ”
‘He went and was carpeted again, and our coach told me he wanted to give it a go. The answer will be, ‘yes, yes, ok, let’s go.’ That’s what we did. It is hard to say how this will turn out. The game is early Sunday, that does not help with things, but we will see. We have every advanced treatment modality you can have, as every team here does. We’ll see how this responds in the next 36 hours. “
‘He did not move well and there was a gesture that it did not work. To my knowledge there was no further progression of the injury or anything like that. He just could not play his game. The good thing was to get him to that point. He (made the gesture). He just said I can not move. He said nothing, you could just tell. ‘
Kristaps Porzingis
‘Obviously Luka outside was not good for us. You know when he tried to come back then his ankle was not good. We need him for the next game, next games, and hopefully the medical staff can get him well so he can come back with our next game. “
Seth Curry
‘I was locked into the game. I saw him go down and hopefully he is good and able to hit back the next game, but like I said, I was locked into the game and trying to get the win and hope he can come back. ”
Tim Hardaway Jr.
“Can we make another run? It’s just 2-1 [in the series]. The last time I checked it was the first one to four wins. So we’ll find out what Luka does tomorrow, but let’s go back home, watch movies, and see what the doctors and our PT staff have to say about Luka. But I do not have it [any] word. “
