Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is getting closer to returning from his left calf strain, but he will not play in Game 3 of their first-round against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Thursday, the team announced. Doncic was a full participant at Mavericks practice on Wednesday and is reportedly eager to return.
At shootaround on Thursday, coach Jason Kidd told reporters that Doncic planned to go through his usual game-day preparation "as if there was no injury."
Doncic said Thursday that he's "feeling great," per ESPN's Tim MacMahon, and he appeared to be in good spirits:
Luka Doncic’s calf appears healthy enough to work on his soccer skills. pic.twitter.com/y5mz6oZplp
— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) April 21, 2022
Doncic suffered the injury in the regular-season finale against the San Antonio Spurs. He was originally supposed to miss that game due to an automatic suspension triggered by his technical foul count, but when that technical foul was rescinded by the league, he wound up playing. It cost him at least the first three games of this series due to that calf strain.
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Fortunately for Doncic, the Mavericks have been able to hold down the fort. They put up a valiant fight in Game 1 before falling just short, but managed to tie the series at 1-1 by defeating the Jazz on Monday. Jalen Brunson led the way with a career-best 41 points. The Mavericks made 22 3-pointers in the winning effort, and now, the pressure is squarely on Utah to respond.
The Jazz had a golden opportunity to take control of this series on the road with Doncic out. They failed to do so for many of the same reasons they failed to knock off the Los Angeles Clippers without Kawhi Leonard a year ago. Their perimeter defense failed to contain dribble penetration, and against five-out lineups, that forced Rudy Gobert to either surrender easy driving lanes or sacrifice open 3-pointers.
Things aren't going to get any easier defensively for Utah when Doncic returns. The Jazz may have a home-court advantage in the series after splitting the first two games in Dallas, but if they struggled to contain the injured Mavericks, they're going to have to step up big time if they plan to hold off an MVP candidate like Doncic. Game 4 is Saturday at Vivint Arena.