Mavs defeat the Nuggets, Luka finishes with ankle injury

The Denver Nuggets played the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas on Monday night and the game started off intense. Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic went back and forth for the first nine minutes of the game and when Jokic was finally taken off the court, he had nine points, six rebounds, and three assists. Heading into the second quarter, Jalen Brunson hit a deep three-pointer to give the Mavs a 35-32 lead.

The second quarter was more back and forth as the Nuggets took back the lead and ran with it. Kristaps Porzingis hit a triple to put the Mavs within three points near the end of the quarter, but the Nuggets went on to score six more unanswered points to lead 58-49 at the half.

The heat continued into the second half with both sides effective in scoring, and Dallas managed to get the game within seven points, but Jokic quickly got Denver back to a 10-point lead with another three-pointer. It was all Porzingis in the second half, scoring 29 points before the end of the third quarter. By the end, Denver was still in the lead 83-79.

Going into the fourth quarter, Jokic was out and the Mavs took back the lead. By the time he came back in, the Nuggets were trailing by eight points and got them back within five with eight minutes in the game. Unfortunately for Denver, that deficit went right back up to 10 within minutes. With two minutes left in the game, they were down by eight again before Tim Hardaway dashed all hope of a comeback with a three-pointer. The Mavs got the victory over Denver 111-101 and ended Denver’s five-game winning streak.

Luka injured in final 44 seconds

Unfortunately, in the final minute of the game, Luka Doncic limped off the court after turning his left ankle. He had contested a layup by Austin Rivers, who fell on Doncic’s leg. Doncic hobbled away to a seat on the sidelines, holding his left ankle in pain. He has a history of ankle sprains and missed 11 games during the 2019-2020 season because of it.

Dallas head coach Jason Kidd just said they would see how he feels Tuesday, not offering up any further information on the injury. Doncic himself was not able to attend the post game conference because he was being treated for the injury. They will not practice Tuesday before starting a four-game series on the road against the Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers.