Suns Star Devin Booker Injury Update: Opportunity For Mavs?
Due to some unfortunate injuries, the NBA playoffs landscape could be changing. Parity in the league is at an all-time high, and now, more than ever, it feels like a handful of teams could potentially end up in the Finals.
On Wednesday, Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic continued to ramp up his activity in practice. After missing the first two games against the Utah Jazz due to a left calf strain, Mavs coach Jason Kidd said that if Doncic feels good on Thursday, he will make his series debut in Game 3. Doncic is apparently feeling pretty good, as Dallas recently upgraded him from doubtful to questionable.
“We’ll see how he feels at game time,” said coach Jason Kidd.
The Mavs and Jazz are tied at 1-1 after Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber led Dallas to a 110-104 win in Game 2.
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The No. 1 seed Phoenix Suns are also involved in an interesting 1-1 series with the No. 8 New Orleans Pelicans. After winning Game 1, the Suns hoped for a 2-0 lead on Wednesday after Devin Booker put up 31 points in the first half of Game 2.
Unfortunately for Phoenix, though, Booker suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain in the third quarter and could miss anywhere between two-to-three weeks of action.
Although the Suns are still more than capable of handling the Pelicans without Booker, his injury could open up a big opportunity for the Mavs. The Pelicans are led by Brandon Ingram, C.J. McCollum and a handful of talented rookies that don't seem intimidated by the moment, including Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado.
If the Pelicans continue to perform like they did in Game 2 after Booker left the game, we could be looking at a David vs. Goliath upset in the first round. If that happens, and the Mavs pull out their series against Utah, Dallas would host a second-round series against the Pels.
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The Mavs and Pelicans have a long way to go before getting to that point, but the injury statuses of Doncic and Booker have legitimately opened the door for a scenario that seemed a pipe dream beforehand. And even if the Suns advance, there’s no guarantee that Booker would be ready to go in the West semifinals, as hamstring injuries can be tricky.
The Mavs had one of the greatest Finals runs in NBA history in 2011. Dirk Nowitzki was masterful as Dallas beat Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge’s Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, Kobe Bryant’s two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the second round, a young-and-upcoming Oklahoma City Thunder team led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in the West finals, and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh’s Big 3 Miami Heat in the Finals.
The one break the Mavs got in that Finals run, though? The eighth-seeded "Grit-N-Grind" Memphis Grizzlies upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round. The Spurs won 61 games that season and also won the season series with the Mavs 3-1.
Can the Mavs get a similar break this postseason? Paying extra attention to the rest of the Suns-Pelicans series, in addition to Mavs-Jazz, to find out.
