Mavs’ Luka Doncic plays Game 4 vs. Clippers; Kristaps Porzingis a late scratch with knee injury

This post has been updated since first published.

After missing the Mavericks’ overtime Game 4 win with right knee soreness, Kristaps Porzingis will undergo an MRI on Sunday.

Porzingis was a late scratch from the Mavericks’ lineup after experiencing pain in his right knee during warm-ups. Porzingis has dealt with the injury in recent games and said he was surprised to play last Wednesday after the pain and tightness became an issue in the lead up to Game 2.

“He has not been ruled out for Game 5,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said, “so we’ll hope for the best and hope he feels better.”

The 25-year-old, who tore the ACL in his left knee in February 2018, missed 10 games from late December to mid-January with the same right knee soreness designation.

Porzingis, whom the Mavericks listed as probable to play in Game 4 with a left heel contusion, not knee soreness, averaged 23.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and one block in the first three games of the series.

“I [saw] how he was moving in warm-ups,” guard Trey Burke said. “He wasn’t moving like himself.”

About a half-hour after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, Luka Doncic offered an update on the left ankle sprain that made him, not Porzingis, a major question for participation before Game 4.

“Obviously it wasn’t 100%,” he said, “but I think it was good.”

The Clippers, meanwhile, played without starting point guard Patrick Beverley, who has a strained left calf, for the third consecutive game.

Beverley has missed eight of the Clippers’ last nine games with the injury, and Rivers said before Game 4 he didn’t have an update on Beverley’s potential return in the series.

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