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Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic suffered an injury during Wednesday night's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. With Doncic being ruled out for the rest of the game, NBA fans shared their reactions to the situation.
The Dallas Mavericks suffered a tough loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. However, the loss will be the least of their concerns moving forward. With Luka Doncic being taken off the floor with a suspected thigh injury, the Mavs will carefully monitor the health situation of their superstar.
Doncic was seen grimacing during the game as well. After a beautiful mid-post move to secure two points with a layup, the guard was visibly in pain. The Mavs star tried to power through the agony, however, he was eventually taken off the floor.
Doncic's absence was felt on the playmaking front. The Mavericks feature a rather stagnant offense that is dependent upon Doncic, Dallas saw barely any ball movement.
Outside of Doncic's eight assists for the game, Dallas only had 16 assists in total. Considering the impact the Slovenian has on the team's overall firepower, Dallas were extremely shorthanded.
Following the game, Doncic also mentioned that his condition may be for the worse. While highlighting that he will be getting an MRI to get a better understanding of his injury, the Mavs guard mentioned that he had been feeling the pain since shortly after the All-Star break.
On a day where quite a few star players were ruled out of action, Doncic joined the injury list. With fans also taking note of Doncic's departure, they sent in their reactions on Twitter. Here are some of the best ones:
Doncic left the game in the third quarter. Although his absence was felt, the Mavericks were still in a solid position to win the game. Dallas truly lost the game due to some brilliance from Pelicans' guard CJ McCollum in the fourth quarter.
Scoring 16 straight points in just over a put, McCollum put on a scoring masterclass against the Mavs.
With this loss, Dallas fell to 34-33 on the season. With Doncic's situation being an unknown, the Mavericks will brace for the worst.
Can the Dallas Mavericks cope without Luka Doncic?
Theoretically, the Dallas Mavericks should be able to cope without Luka Doncic. The whole point of acquiring a superstar-caliber player such as Kyrie Irving was to have a reliable backup in such a situation.
Realistically, however, this may be a bit of a challenge.
Although Irving is certainly a capable force in his own right, the Mavericks as a unit may not be the most functional one. Given what they gave up in the offseason and the assets they had to let go of to acquire Irving, Dallas faces a significant shortage of depth in their rotation.
Should Doncic stand to lose a significant amount of time, the Mavericks may find themselves on a bit of a slide. However, should the team manage to rally around Irving the way they did upon his arrival, there may still be some hope of staying afloat.
Read: Skip Bayless dubs Kyrie Irving as ‘Batman’ & Luka Doncic as ‘Robin’ for Dallas Mavericks
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