{"id":77123,"date":"2024-05-12T11:05:44","date_gmt":"2024-05-12T15:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=77123"},"modified":"2024-05-12T11:05:44","modified_gmt":"2024-05-12T15:05:44","slug":"luka-doncic-gets-candid-on-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/12\/luka-doncic-gets-candid-on-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cStraight on my back\u201d \u2013 Mavs Superstar Gets Candid on Injuries and Physicality of Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks came away with a 105-101 win at American Airlines Center in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/11\/game-3-mavericks-vs-thunder-best-bets-and-promo-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Game 3 of their second-round playoff series<\/a> against the OKC Thunder. Following the game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> opened up on his physical condition after engaging in a few rough plays on Saturday.<\/p>\n<h2>Mavs Superstar Gets Candid on Injuries and Physicality of Game 3<\/h2>\n<p>In the post-match press conference, Doncic reflected on various aspects of the game and his team&#8217;s performance. Doncic was asked about his ability to play through physical challenges, given the stretch of injury he has been dealing with.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think I&#8217;m battling. I&#8217;m glad we got the win and, you know, just trying to battle out there,\u201d Luka Doncic said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mavs\/Thunder Postgame, Luka, Kyrie, SGA,  Jalen Williams, Chet, Coaches Reactions | 2024 WCSF, GM3\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FAmqdrDJaAc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Doncic acknowledged the difficulties but expressed his determination to battle through for the team&#8217;s sake.<\/p>\n<p>When questioned about his injuries, Luka Doncic mentioned hurting his knee again during the game. However, he stressed prioritizing the team&#8217;s goals over personal discomfort.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIn the last play, I split two defenders. Obviously, nobody touched me, and, you know, hurt my knee again. But just trying to battle out there, man. We got the win. That&#8217;s all that matters.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Doncic also discussed the challenges of the tight playoff schedule. He mentioned the need for rest and recovery between games.<\/p>\n<p>Luka was then inquired about a hard fall he took during a jump ball call, and if he had hurt his lower back or tailbone. He responded:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cYeah, I was straight on my back. But I mean, right now, that&#8217;s the least of my problems. That just hit. I&#8217;ll get better in two days.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite the concern, he downplayed the injury, stating that it&#8217;s currently the least of his worries. He expressed confidence in his ability to recover within two days. Luka is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statmuse.com\/nba\/ask\/luka-2024-playoff-stats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">averaging<\/a> 27 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 8.7 assists in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<h3>Luka Doncic Expresses Subtle Displeasure with Match Officiating<\/h3>\n<p>During the press conference, a reporter noted Luka&#8217;s frequent interactions with the referees during the game. They asked if he felt the officiating was consistent with regular season games.<\/p>\n<p>Luka responded with a succinct &#8220;I don&#8217;t think so,&#8221; implying dissatisfaction with the officiating in playoff games compared to the regular season.<\/p>\n<p>When asked if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dortlu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luguentz Dort&#8217;s<\/a> defensive play was bothering him, Luka responded casually.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt&#8217;s fine. You know, they just gotta be better. I mean, just call the same fouls on both ends.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Mavs superstar subtly hinted at frustration with the refereeing, suggesting that fouls should be called consistently on both ends of the court.\u00a0Luka also praised <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving&#8217;s<\/a> contributions. He mentioned Irving\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/24\/mavs-win-first-playoff-game-with-star-duo\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">ability to facilitate plays<\/a> and make clutch shots, especially in the fourth quarter. Irving has been crucial to the Mavs&#8217; success averaging 23 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. He is also playing some of the best defense of his career.<\/p>\n<p>The Mavericks have already gained a 2-1 lead in the series. Despite being up in the second-round tie, Luka remained cautious about the team&#8217;s playoff outlook.\u00a0He pointed out the pressure of the playoffs and stressed the importance of staying grounded and focused on the task at hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks came away with a 105-101 win at American Airlines Center in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the OKC Thunder. Following the game, Luka Doncic opened up on his physical condition after engaging in a few rough plays on Saturday. Mavs Superstar Gets Candid on Injuries and Physicality of Game [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5100,"featured_media":77160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,30],"tags":[406,1133],"class_list":["post-77123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-mavericks","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-luka-doncic"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}