The Dallas Mavericks played very well at the end of the season and are the team with the second highest performance in the West. However, Luka Doncic’s injury puts their strength into question.
Doncic continues to have an excellent season, being on the list of contenders for the MVP title. But injury prevented him from bringing his best in the Playoff round. Doncic averaged 28.3 points, 9.4 assists and 8.4 rebounds per game in the Playoff, not bad stats. The problem is efficiency, Doncic only has a 39.5% successful shooting rate and 22.7% outside the 3-point line.
In game 1 against OKC Thunder, Doncic shot 6/19 and scored only 19 points. This is only the 6th time Doncic has scored under 20 points this season and the first time since March 19. Certainly praise must be given to Thunder’s tight defense. However, the Slovenian star’s physical condition also contributed to that weak performance.
SEE MORE: Latest NBA Playoff 2024 schedule: Results updated continuously
What injury is Luka Doncic having?
On April 28, Doncic first appeared on the Mavericks’ injury list, which was game 4 against the LA Clippers in round 1 of the NBA Playoff. The Slovenian star was identified as having pain in his knee.
On April 30, coach Jason Kidd revealed that Doncic had a sprained right knee and had to suppress the pain while playing. A day later, Doncic scored 35 points against the Clippers but only hit 2/8 3-pointers.
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Since game 4, Doncic has only successfully finished 15/45 times (33.3%) and 2/18 from 3-point range (11.1%). Doncic has appeared on the Mavericks’ injury report ever since. However, because it is so important to the team, Doncic still has to play.
After the Mavericks’ close victory over the Clippers in the first round, Doncic affirmed: “[My knee] is fine. The team has a long way to go. Maybe I will rest in the summer.”
After playing 41 minutes in game 1 of the Western semi-finals, reporters asked Doncic if the injury affected his performance, Doncic frankly replied that he did not care about the injury anymore.
How does Luka Doncic fall in the 2024 NBA Playoff?
In the “regular season”, in addition to scoring an average of 33.9 points per game, a career high and leading the NBA, his successful shooting rate of 48.7% is also the second best achievement in his career. Doncic. He also has 10.6 3-point shots per game, achieving an accuracy rate of 38.2%, also a career high.
Those statistics show how impressive a season Doncic has had. However, these parameters all decreased sharply in the Playoff round. That partly reflects the impact of the knee injury on Doncic.
Compare Luka Doncic’s statistics in Regular season and Playoff
| Regular season | Playoff | |
| Point | 33.9 | 28.3 |
| FG/FGA | 11.5/23.6 | 9.7/24.6 |
| FG% | 48.7 | 39.5 |
| 3P/3PA | 4.1/10.6 | 2.4/10.7 |
| 3P% | 38.2 | 22.7 |
The defensive efforts of the Clippers and Thunder cannot be ignored, it certainly affected Doncic’s shooting performance. However, the knee injury also had a significant impact on Doncic’s declining performance in the Playoffs.
Doncic confirmed that his injury will not improve during the Playoff round, meaning the Slovenian star will continue to have to endure pain for the rest of the season. This is a problem that Mavericks must consider carefully if they want to go far. They need to manage Doncic’s playing time in the most reasonable way, while keeping him healthy, but not greatly affecting the team’s performance.
SEE MORE: OKC Thunder vs Dallas Mavericks NBA Playoff 2024: Match schedule, comments, results prediction
