A report that Luka Doncic stayed up “most of the night” ill after the Mavericks’ Game 1 loss to the Warriors sent waves of concern among Dallas’ fans early Friday morning.
But the 23-year-old superstar isn’t expected to miss Dallas’ Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals on Friday night.
A source told The Dallas Morning News on Friday afternoon that Doncic is “good to go” despite the comments from TNT play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Harlan after Doncic’s Game 1 struggles on Wednesday night.
In his pre-game media availability on Friday, Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said Doncic is “fine.”
“To my knowledge, he was good this morning. He was good this afternoon. I don’t know if he was sick or not sick,” Kidd said. “He’s fine.”
Doncic, like the rest of his team, endured a poor shooting performance in the Western Conference finals opener. He scored 20 points and shot 33.3% from the floor, his lowest marks this postseason.
Harlan, who will do play-by-play for broadcast throughout this series, said an illness may have compounded Doncic’s issues.
“I hear he’s sick today,” Harlan told KNBR’s Greg Papa and John Lund on Thursday (via NBC Sports). “I guess he was up most of the night and ill. I’ve heard it now from two different people, so I’m assuming it’s probably true.”
Harlan also said his sources were not from Dallas or Golden State’s organization, and he didn’t know if Doncic suffered from the illness during or only after the game.
“The body language that he showed, just the zest that he showed in Game 7 [of the Western Conference semifinals] in Phoenix was not there last night,” Harlan said. “And I’m not sure if perhaps he was a little bit under the weather [during the game]. He didn’t play like he played in the Suns series, that’s for sure, and he needed every ounce of what he gives them, and that was not apparent.
“I don’t want to diminish at all what the Warriors did [defensively]. … It was sound and clear cut, there’s no ambiguity there whatsoever. … I’m just passing along what I heard from two people that he was up all night and sick.”
Doncic on Wednesday walked off the court with a smile — for no reason, he said, other than already looking forward to Game 2 on Friday night. He said the right shoulder pain he felt in the first half Wednesday should ease with treatment and joked the dark-red scratch across his cheek suffered in Game 1 made him look tough.
He was also at the Mavericks’ practice Thursday in the Warriors’ Chase Center.
During the portion open to reporters, he sat in a courtside seat with his laptop propped open, watching his former European club, Real Madrid, win its EuroLeague semifinal. He later posted to Instagram a photo of him active during the workout.
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