Mavericks’ Luka Doncic Breaks Silence on Mystery Injury

Throughout the playoffs, Mavericks star Luka Doncic has fought his way through a series of injuries, most notably the right knee sprain he suffered in Game 3 of the first-round series against the Clippers, which often had him looking like he was playing on one leg. He’s had an ankle injury and now, against the Celtics, Doncic has a more mysterious “thoracic contusion” on his injury docket.

That’s, essentially, a scientific term for a chest bruise. Doncic has not said much about it to this point.

But it is a significant bruise—Doncic, according to ESPN, needed a pain-killing injection to play in Game 2 on Sunday, after he had been downgraded to “questionable” on that day’s injury report.

Doncic has not said much about the injury to this point. He was asked about it on Tuesday, though, and did finally break his silence on it—though he did not say much.

“I feel good,” Doncic said. “I don’t want to get in any more details. But I feel good.”

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Luka Doncic Carrying Heavy Load in Finals

The Mavericks trail the Celtics, 0-2, in the NBA Finals. Doncic has put up good numbers in the two losses, with 31.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists. He has shot 51.1% from the field and 38.1% from the 3-point line. His fellow Mavs have not offered much help: They’re shooting 41.9% from the field outside of Doncic, and 15.6% from the 3-point line.

He has also looked worn out at the end of games. In two fourth quarters in this series, Doncic has scored six total points on 2-for-10 shooting.

The Celtics have done well to contain Doncic by not giving him too much defensive attention, allowing him to get his offense going as long as they can prevent the other Mavs from doing too much. The strategy has worked well thus far.

That means Doncic needs help. He offered some advice for his slumping teammates.

“Just one thing: Keep shooting,” Doncic said. “We all believe in those shots. That’s how we came to the Finals. That’s how we played the whole season. We believe in those guys. Everybody believes. If you’re open, just keep shooting. You’re going to knock it down at some point.”

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Mavericks Need Help From Kyrie Irving

The Celtics have done an especially solid defensive job on Doncic’s top co-star, point guard Kyrie Irving, who has been miserable in the first two games of the series, shooting 35.1% from the field and averaging only 14.0 points and 4.0 assists.

Irving had been averaging 22.8 points on 48.5% shooting in the playoffs before running into the Celtics.

Much of the credit for that should belong to Celtics veteran guard Jrue Holiday, who has been the primary defender on Irving in the series. But Holiday deflected credit when asked about Irving’s struggles on Tuesday.

“I think it’s team defense,” he told reporters. “We do it as a team. It’s not just one person, it’s everybody. We just try to defend him, we try to show him bodies, multiple people, and just try to make it difficult.”

Luka Doncic said the offense has created good shots. The Mavs just have to make them.

“Just trying to keep getting open looks,” he said. “I think our defense has not been bad. We can’t really score. That’s our main problem right now. But I think we getting some great looks. Like I say, we have confidence everybody can make a shot shooting the ball on our team. We just got to keep believing in it.”

 

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