Dallas Mavericks beat New Orleans Pelicans 111-106 despite star player Doncic’s injury

Luka Doncic takes hard fall, heads to locker room with apparent ankle injury | NBA on ESPN

The Dallas Mavericks won 111-106 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday despite losing All-Star point guard Luka Doncic in the third quarter. Doncic sustained a heel contusion after colliding with two Pelicans players and injured his right foot.

The star player went in for a dunk in the third quarter, running into Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas and forward Brandon Ingram. Doncic later grabbed at his ankles with a wince in the subsequent fall but tried to continue the game later on.

Doncic informed coach Jason Kidd before returning to the locker room, signaling the seriousness of his injury.

“We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. I think no matter what the score was, he wasn’t coming back.”

Jason Kidd, Dallas Mavericks coach

Doncic’s later MRI on Friday showed that the heel contusion was, fortunately, not as serious as the team initially feared. However, the star player will not play the upcoming game against the Golden State Warriors, suggesting that he needs time to recover.

The Pelicans, who were on a nine-game losing streak, could not capitalize on the Mavericks’ loss of Doncic. Their total points dropped below 0.500 after Thursday’s game, their all-time lowest this season.

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Game highlights

Doncic scored 31 points, four assists, and eight rebounds before his exit in the third quarter. The All-Star player overwhelmed the struggling Pelicans in the first quarter, scoring 21 points alone while the Pelicans only managed to finish the quarter with 22 points.

After Doncic’s exit, the Mavericks’ rotation quickly came apart, only being held together by center Dwight Powell. Powell defended the Mavericks in their last stand, though struggled against the Pelicans’ Valanciunas.

Valanciunas scored 16 points and took 13 rebounds after the end of the third quarter. Ingram also contributed greatly to the Pelicans, leading the team’s scoreboard with 26 points.

Another surprising loss

The Pelicans suffered nine straight losses before the loss on Thursday and saw an opportunity to turn their fortune around with the loss of Doncic. However, Doncic scored 31 points for the Mavericks before his exit, giving the Pelicans a difficult climb to attain victory.

The losing team appeared to have gained ground in the last seconds of the game. With the Mavericks’ only holding a three-point lead, Ingram almost scored from guard John Green’s pass. This score was disqualified by the fact that Ingram went out of bounds.

C.J. McCollum attempted to save the loose ball before officials called the game. However, a later review of the footage indicated that Ingram may not have gone out of bounds in the first place, and the clock may have timed incorrectly.

“The players should have decided the game, and they didn’t. There were two wrongs done. The clock was wrong, and the call was wrong,” Pelicans’ power forward Larry Nance Jr. said about the officials’ decision.

“I just hope we get the same calls at home. That would be lovely.”

In the end, the game’s results were decided after it was finished, when officials decided to accept two allegedly incorrect calls from the last portion. The game’s final score was tallied 111-106 in favor of the Mavericks.

The Pelicans’ have struggled to perform without their All-Star Zion Williamson, who has missed 16 games with a right hamstring injury. Their 10th consecutive loss counts for their second-longest losing streak, after their 13-loss streak in the 2019-2020 pandemic season.