Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic (77) reaches for his lower leg after suffering an unknown lower leg injury in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs, Sunday, April 10, 2022, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks are not putting a timetable on Luka Doncic’s return from a calf strain four days before the opener of a first-round playoff series against Utah.
The team said Tuesday that the 23-year-old superstar had begun treatment. Doncic strained his left calf late in the third quarter of what turned out to be a meaningless regular-season finale against San Antonio on Sunday.
Dallas opens the playoffs at home Saturday against the Jazz. The fourth-seeded Mavericks have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the first time since they won their only championship in 2011. That’s also the last time Dallas won a postseason series.
Doncic finished as the NBA’s third-leading scorer at 28.4 points per game. He was the only player in the league to average at least 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game.
The two-time All-Star wouldn’t have been eligible for the finale against the Spurs if the NBA hadn’t rescinded his 16th technical foul. Without the reversal, Doncic would have served a one-game suspension.
Doncic played his normal rotation, which included all of the first quarter and was supposed to be all of the fourth. Coach Jason Kidd said he would have been finished for the night after the third. The injury happened in the final three minutes of the quarter.
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