Mavericks star Luka Doncic will miss at least Game 1 of the playoff series vs. the Jazz with a left calf strain, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Doncic suffered the injury in the Mavs’ regular-season finale against the Spurs. Dallas opens the playoffs at home on Saturday.
“Regardless of Doncic’s status for this series, some believe that the Mavs can beat the Jazz no matter what,” wrote Dalton Trigg of Dallas Basketball on SI.com.
Wojnarowski spoke about Doncic’s injury on NBA Countdown earlier this week.
“The Mavericks are very much preparing for the possibility of not only maybe not having [Doncic] in Game 1, but maybe even Game 2 on Monday,” Wojnarowski said. “If this was the regular season, you wouldn’t even be talking about him possibly playing this weekend.
“I think you can expect him to go down to the wire Friday, Saturday on this. But a great deal of skepticism, concern about how soon he will be available in this playoff series against Utah.”
“This injury is a significant blow to a Mavericks team that captured home-court advantage in the postseason for the first time since 2011,” wrote CBS Sports’ Colin Ward-Henninger and Jasmyn Wimbish.
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