The Dallas Mavericks are tied 2-2 with the LA Clippers in what’s proven to be one of the most even first-round matchups of these playoffs. Dallas is on the road tonight, as this will be a crucial test for the Mavericks that could make or break their season, especially when you take into consideration how hard it would be for the Mavericks to win two games in a row if they lost Game 5.

The Mavericks have been prepping diligently for this game over the last couple of days at practice, as the Mavericks will look to correct some of their Mavericks’ after nearly coming back from a 31-point deficit in that contest. Some of the Mavericks misfortunes in that contest almost certainly stemmed from Luka Doncic’s knee sprain, as the MVP candidate has been struggling all series to uphold the level of offensive efficiency that we saw during the regular season.

Doncic is doing everything he can to stay on the court given the competitor he is, but he’s clearly looked less mobile and explosive on offense, which severely limits how diverse of an offensive attack the Mavericks could have to start games. Hopefully, Doncic can turn things around offensively in the last few contests of this series, as the Mavericks have as good of a chance as ever to knock off the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard likely missing the rest of the series.

Luka Doncic’s struggles could be due to untimely sickness

If not though it would be completely understandable, as Doncic is not only dealing with his knee sprain at the moment, but it was also announced earlier today that he’s been dealing with an illness throughout this series. Doncic has looked noticeably ill in press conferences recently, but it hasn’t been mentioned that he was sick until today. This of course is extremely unfortunate for the Mavericks and Doncic at this time of the year, as stacking an illness onto an injury is only going to make things more laborious for Doncic on the court.

Despite injury and illness, Luka Doncic says he's ready for Game 5 as the Maverick try to break a 2-2 series tie: "Yeah, I'm good. I'm ready for the game. I'm happy to be here."

Doncic answered he's been sick for "five or six days" and said his knee feels "not good."

— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) May 1, 2024

It will be interesting to see how Doncic handles the remaining games in this series as he’s adamant about not missing any playoff games for the Mavericks if he doesn’t absolutely have to, but it’s still extremely ill-timed for Doncic to be dealing with an illness at this juncture of the season with all things considered.

If there’s one silver lining to all of this, we’ve seen players be able to fight against being sick or injured to still have spectacular playoff performances before. However, with Doncic being both sick and injured, he’s clearly battling some tough odds to try and maintain his offensive consistency as well as lead the Mavericks to their first series victory over the Clippers since the two squads have faced off against each other.

For more on the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, stay tuned as we will have you covered on a daily basis.