The Dallas Mavericks are flying high in the Western Conference this season and are well on track to make the play-offs once more.
The side struggled early on and went on a four-game losing streak in the middle of November where they were beaten by the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets to name a few.
Since then Dallas Mavericks form has picked up and the contributions from the likes of Kyrie Irving have played a crucial part in this great run of results.
You may be wondering why star-man Luka Doncic hasn’t been mentioned, the simple answer is that he has struggled for game time due to regular injury set-backs.
Luka Doncic is widely known as one of the best players in the NBA and has played a pivotal part in the Mavs recent success.
The point guard was vital in the team’s run to the NBA Finals last year. Doncic was the Mavs’ highest point-scorer in all five of their Conference Final games with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sadly, despite scoring more than 28 points in all four Finals games with the Celtics, it wasn’t enough to get them over the line.
This season however the Slovenian has missed a number of games due to injury. In total, he has been off-court for five games this season.
Doncic has been suffering from a wide range of injuries including wrist, knee and groin troubles which luckily have only kept him out for short periods.
Speaking on his most recent injury, a wrist sprain, Mavs Head Coach Brian Kidd said: “He looks good…everything that has come back that he looks good and is getting closer to coming back…”
The 25-year-old was back in the starting line-up for the Mavs road victory against the Portland Trail Blazers where he helped the team to a 137-131 victory scoring 36 points.
Current team-mate Spencer Dinwiddie was certainly happy to see Doncic return to the floor and explained how the star’s body language and ‘greatness’ help the side.
Read More: Luka Doncic has to ‘fix’ key problem blasts Kendrick Perkins, ‘it’s contagious’
Despite missing Doncic for almost a quarter of their games so far the Mavs have found a way to win, mainly thanks to Kyrie Irving.
Of the five games that Doncic has missed this season against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, and the New York Knicks they only lost one of those games, that was in overtime against the Heat.
Kyrie Irving has been averaging 24.8 PPG whilst the recent acquisition of Klay Thompson, who they obtained from the Golden State Warriors, has also helped ease the absence of Doncic scoring 13.2 PPG.
There is no doubt that having Doncic back is only a good thing for the Mavs but their results without him clearly indicate that they are a well balanced side who will be looking to go one step further than last season.
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