Lu Dort’s recklessness caused another scary Luka Doncic injury

In a crucial Game 3 back home in Dallas, the Mavericks were able to put together a gritty defensive effort to best the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 105-101. The Mavericks were spearheaded by yet another dynamic offensive performance by P.J. Washington, as the 25-year-old wing finished with 27 points on 11-23 shooting from the field.

The Mavericks have been able to fight through a myriad of injuries to key role players throughout this series, as they have displayed that they have the toughness and sustainability to continue to make a long playoff run. Both the likes of Daniel Gafford and Derrick Jones Jr. have been noticeably banged up in this series, as Gafford has dealt with both a dislocation to his pinky finger as well as a shoulder injury just within the last two games.

However, Jones Jr. and Gafford have shown their true stripes by fighting through pain as aforementioned, as the toughness being exhibited from this Mavericks team in theses playoffs stems from the top down with how Luka Doncic has carried himself in these playoffs.

Lu Dort’s recklessness caused a Luka Doncic back injury in Game 3

Doncic has been battling a sore left ankle and sprained right knee throughout the entirety of the second round thus far, as he's doing everything in his power to contribute at a high level despite the immense amount of pain he's dealing with at the moment.

The pain that Doncic is dealing with in this series doesn't project to get better anytime soon unfortunately, as Doncic re-aggravated his knee in Game 3 and took a hard fall on his back when trying to joust for a loose ball with Thunder guard Lu Dort on a play coming near the end of the third quarter.

Doncic said that he would be fine after the hard fall that he suffered when fighting for the ball with Dort, and his recklessness in this series must be observed.

Doncic is maintaining an even-keeled approach to this series despite the uptick in physicality that he's dealt with in this series from Dort and other Thunder defenders, proving that he is the ultimate winner when you take into consideration that he is already extremely hobbled by injury in this series.

Some may even say that Doncic is dealing with dirty play from the likes of Lu Dort in this series, and when one dives into some of the specific plays where Dort is guarding the five-time All-Star, it's undeniable that there's at least a little bit of malpractice taking place in regards to how Dort is guarding Doncic stylistically.

There have been multiple instances in this series where Dort has under-cut Doncic when trying to closeout on his shot, a dangerous play when one takes into consideration that it takes away some of Doncic's landing space in an instance of that nature.

Dort has also repeatedly flailed and flopped in an attempt to get some offensive fouls called against the Mavericks, particularly when navigating through screens as well as when he's guarded Doncic one-on-one a few times.

While it's negligible to say that Dort isn't a top perimeter defender in the NBA, he needs to cut down on some the questionable tactics that he's been using to guard Doncic in this series, as many of his defensive plays in this series have been either unfair or unsafe.

While physicality projects to only go upward in this series, hopefully, we don't see more plays like this from Dort in this series, as it could easily hurt Doncic more than he already is.

For more on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks throughout this playoff stretch, stay tuned as we will have you covered.