Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic was clearly hobbling in the latter stages of Game 4 against the Clippers as he was already questionable and a game-time decision entering the game with knee soreness. A collision with Clippers’ forward Terance Mann after chasing a rebound in which Doncic’s right knee hit the ground awkwardly didn’t seem to help either.

Donic wouldn’t allow his knee injury to be the reason they lost today, though. “It’s hurting, obviously,” he told media long after the game, “but I shouldn’t make excuses. We came out sloppy so have to do better than that.”

All Coach Jason Kidd said after the game regarding Doncic’s health was “I thought he did everything he could. His health, you’ll have to ask him about his health. I thought he competed on both ends (of the floor).” Besides that comment, he didn’t really want to talk about the status of his knee.

After Game 3 on Friday, Doncic told the media “(My knee) is pretty stiff right now… but you know me, I’ll try to go anyway.” Jason Kidd backed that up and sort of brushed it off when meeting with the media on Saturday saying “Everybody is stiff and sore.”

It’s been a physical series, a theme of the NBA Playoffs. The scoring in this series has been down from what many expected and is below each team’s average for the season. Clippers’ star Paul George said after Game 2 “Physicality, they’ve (the Mavericks) definitely been physical, but that’s playoff basketball, nothing out of the norm.”

Doncic will get a couple of days of rest as Game 5 won’t be until Wednesday at 9 p.m. CST in Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.

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