The Oklahoma City Thunder were expected to win Game 1 at home due to their outstanding 35-8 record at home. Still, nobody really anticipated Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and company to thrash the Mavericks 117-95. The Mavericks have a history of winning their second game after a loss under Jason Kidd. Fans are concerned, though, because Luka Doncic is listed among the injured players.
Maxi Kleber and Olivier-Maxence Prosper are two guys the Dallas Mavericks are already losing out on. Because of his persistent right knee ailment, the medical staff has placed Luka Doncic as a “probable” to the awful list.
Right knee strain suffered by Luka Doncic has plagued him during the Los Angeles Clippers opening-round series. Luka made the decision to stay active in spite of his frequent additions to the injury report.
Even though the Mavericks prevailed in the series, he played far fewer minutes and averaged less points, rebounds, assists, and a poorer field goal percentage than he did during the regular season.
The Western Conference Semifinal Game 1 appeared to be really painful for the talented Slovenian. The 6’7″ guard, who was always hobbling, only produced a mediocre performance: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 turnovers on 31.6% FG and 12.5% 3FG, according to NBA.com.
The five-time All-Star was even questioned about his injuries after the game. But he made the decision to stop using his knee injury as an excuse for his awful performance.
In the postgame press conference, Doncic stated,
“Who cares (about the injury), we lost. We just gotta move on to the next one. I gotta be better, we gotta be better,”
Luka after shooting 6/19 from the field:
"Who cares, we lost. We just gotta move on to the next one. I gotta be better, we gotta be better."pic.twitter.com/QFWUeWv7KL
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 8, 2024
Doncic has to play tonight to avoid dropping to 0-2 in the series against the greatest team in the West. Fans of the Texas team will be happy to hear that Luka has the potential to provide a far superior stat line if he does wear the jersey. Because he improved in the five games this season in which he shot 32% or less, finishing with 34.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 8.6 assists on 50.3% FG, according to ESPN.