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Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 4 due to a sprained left ankle that brought him out of Friday night’s 130-122 loss to the LA Clippers in the fourth quarter.
Coach Rick Carlisle has said he anticipates the Mavs won’t know if Doncic is available until a few minutes before the report.
“I think it’s going to be a game time decision type situation most likely, but I can’t tell you the exact time,” Carlisle said on Saturday afternoon. “He’s not doing anything on the floor today. It’s treatment, and we’re trying to get him for an MRI.”
Doncic was due to have an MRI on Saturday morning, but Carlisle said there was an issue with the MRI machine at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. That the team was trying to resolve. .
Game 4 is at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Clippers, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, have a 2-1 lead over the seventh-seeded Mavs in the NBA playoff series in the first round.
“We have to measure a lot of things by how he feels, what the diagnostic test looks like and how our coaches are feeling,” Carlisle said. “We’ll see. I wish I had known by now, but I don’t know. Tonight is a big night in terms of how he feels in the morning.”
Doncic fell after rolling his ankle as he defended Kawhi Leonard in a basket practice with 3:58 left in the third quarter. He immediately grabbed her left ankle. After being helped up, Doncic jumped on his right foot onto the ground and into the tunnel.
After getting his ankle spruced up, Doncic returned early in the fourth quarter and was clearly hampered before going out with 9:02 to go. The Mavs announced minutes later that Doncic would not be returning.
“It’s not that bad,” said Doncic, who has missed 11 games this season with a double sprained right ankle. “Honestly, I was lucky, it’s my left ankle. It’s not my right. It’s a little sprained. We’ll know more. [Saturday]. “
Carlisle said Doncic would have a significant contribution to make whether he plays, along with Dallas director of player health and performance Casey Smith who is primarily responsible for the treatment of the 21-year-old All-Star.
“He plays injured quite regularly. We don’t want him to play injured, though,” Carlisle said. “It’s a different situation. You bring more risk. But we’ll see. We’ll see where it is tomorrow. The quick turnaround presents more challenges, but we’ll see. In a way, that’s what it is. we can help improve the situation and in some ways you are dealing with Mother Nature. “
Doncic averaged 35.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8.0 assists as the Mavs and Clippers went their separate ways in the first two games of the series. He tallied 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 3, becoming the third youngest player in NBA history to record a playoff triple-double, behind only Magic Johnson and LeBron James.
Carlisle said Doncic didn’t make the sprain worse by playing a few minutes to start the fourth quarter. After evaluating Doncic and revamping his ankle, Smith informed Carlisle that Doncic wanted to return to the game, but it quickly emerged that Doncic’s mobility was significantly compromised.
Doncic signaled to the Dallas bench that he needed to leave the game. He overturned his chair in frustration before heading back to the locker room with Smith.
“I just wanted to come in,” said Doncic, who was 4 of 14 from the field in the loss. “We still had a chance to win and help my teammates. Obviously I could still run a little bit, but I couldn’t push my left leg so it was better to go out and let someone else play.”
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