After starting the season 5-7, the Dallas Mavericks won 11 of 12, including seven straight. Coming into their Christmas Day matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, who they defeated in the conference finals last season, Dallas had won two straight and three of their previous four, and they were starting to resemble the team that made it to the Finals last season.
However, the happy vibes they had to start Christmas Day ended pretty quickly when Luka Dončić left the game in the second quarter with a left calf strain and did not return.
Minnesota led by as many as 28 points in the second half and began the fourth quarter with a 21-point lead, but to their credit, Dallas outscored the Timberwolves 31-15 in the final stanza and had an opportunity to take the lead late, but Kyrie Irving, who scored 15 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth, missed a three and Dallas(19-11) would fall to Minnesota(15-14) 104-99 at American Airlines Center.
According to ESPN Shams Charania, Dončić, who scheduled for an MRI on Thursday, could miss an extended period of time with that calf injury, so Dallas must find ways to get the job done.
“It’s just a crazy play, you know, on a holiday like this man,” Irving said about Dončić’s inury. “But yeah, we just got to be mature about it, and everybody be ready to adjust for the lineups.”
Klay Thompson, who scored 14 points and passed Reggie Miller (2,560) for the fifth-most 3-pointers in NBA history on Wednesday, says Dallas, who is 6-2 without Dončić this season, can still win without their best player.
“It’s kind of deflating, but we’re lucky to have such a deep roster, and that’s why we can withstand this time without him, but obviously we are not the same without Luka in the lineup,” Thompson said. “I think that’s obvious, but we are going to do everything we can to go on a run here without him.”
If Dončić is gone for an extended period of time, Dallas is going to have to find ways to get the job done, Obviously, they can’t win a title without him, but they can keep the train moving for a period of time; hopefully, for them, it’s not a very long period of time.
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