Dallas Mavericks: Dorian Finney-Smith (hip) will play in Game 5

Dallas Mavericks: Dorian Finney-Smith (hip) will play a key role in Game 5

The Dallas Mavericks enter game five on Tuesday night with the series tied at two apiece. It took plenty of heroics from Luka Doncic to knot things on Sunday afternoon. The Mavs did it without Kristaps Porzingis.

Dallas got bad news ahead of game five. KP is out for the second straight game. Expect the Mavericks to shift to playing smaller without the Unicorn. Losing a star player is never ideal, but the Mavs overcame it game four.

Dorian Finney-Smith popped up on the injury report on Tuesday morning with a hip injury. He was listed as questionable. Fans got the news on his status before tipoff. Let us take a closer look.

Dorian Finney-Smith (hip) will play in Game 5 of Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Clippers

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle broke the news during his pregame press conference. Finney-Smith will be a key for the Mavs without Kristaps Porzingis. He and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist can play the minutes at the four. It keeps Dallas from having to go further into their bench.

Finney-Smith is averaging 9.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 31.9 minutes per game during this series. His biggest contributions come on the defensive end. He will be tasked with guarding Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Lou Williams in game five. DFS needs to help slow down those three and grab rebounds for the Mavericks to pull the upset on Tuesday evening.

Expect Dorian Finney-Smith to start and play his normal workload. Keep an eye on the 27-year-old, though. Hopefully, the injury causes no issues in game five and beyond. It promises to be an exciting and important contest, so please tune in and enjoy every second of the action from the Walt Disney World bubble on Aug. 25.