SALT LAKE CITY, UT – The Fourth seed Dallas Mavericks will head to Utah on a late afternoon flight on Wednesday to get prepared to play in Salt Lake City at the home of the fifth seed Utah Jazz on Thursday night. Tip off is set for 8 PM.
After speaking with Luka Doncic after practice on Wednesday, for the first time since his calf sprain, he informed the media that he is unsure about his return for Game 3.
“I dont think I’m going to be 100% but if there is no risk of injury then I’m going to be out there”, Doncic stated that if there is no risk of further injury and if he feels good enough to play then he will be out there on Thursday night.
“I don’t want to play limited minutes, I want to play as much time as possible so if there is no risk of injury then I’ll be out there.” Doncic stated that it is very stressful for him to not be on the court, he said it’s more stressful for him to not play than it is for him to play. We all witnessed that on Monday night as he was very vocal with the refs about their calls, as he was on the sidelines in a Jordan tracksuit. If Luka Doncic is anything, he is definitely passionate and we have all witnessed it.
Luka and the medical staff will continue to do treatment day in and day out and they will decide on Thursday if Luka feels good enough to suit up or not. The biggest scare right now for Luka and the medical staff is letting him go out there when he is not ready and causing a further injury that is far more significant and a way longer recovery time.
The biggest thing for Dallas in Game 3 that they really want to work on is to reduce the amount of opportunities that Utah is in the paint getting rebounds and second chance opportunities. Dallas did win on Monday night, due to their stellar three-point shooting late in the fourth quarter, but they still got outrebounded. Dallas was outrebounded 51-30, which was a similar stat for Game 2. Utah also had 50 points in the paint compared to our 28.
Head Coach Jason Kidd told us that their main goal for tomorrow is to have more opportunities in the paint in case their shots aren’t falling as well as they were in Dallas on Monday and to limit Utah’s pressure in the paint.
Jalen Brunson has led the pack for Dallas in Luka’s absence and he has been doing an incredible job. Kidd is very pleased with how he has handled the first two games and says that he knows he will continue to lead this team if Luka does not return for game 3.
