The Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies will meet on Friday night in a fight for the West's final playoff spot. The winner goes on to face the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the loser's season is over. The stakes couldn't be higher, and players may be playing through some injuries.
The biggest injury news from this game is for Memphis star Ja Morant, who rolled his ankle in the second half of Tuesday's Play-In Tournament game against the Golden State Warriors. It looked nasty on replay, but he ended up coming back into the game, albeit with a limp, to play through the buzzer.
However, Morant didn't practice with the Grizzlies on Thursday. Interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said after practice that "He'll do absolutely everything in order to play. If he's physically able to do it, he will do it. It's a legitimate gametime decision."
So, predictably, Morant is listed as questionable on Memphis' injury report. Even if he plays, he won't be at 100%, though. Memphis will be without Brandon Clarke (right PCL sprain) and Jaylen Wells (right wrist sprain, facial laceration, concussion protocol.
Dallas will be without Kyrie Irving (left knee ACL tear) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist surgery). Anthony Davis (left adductor strain) and Brandon Williams (oblique strain) are probable to play. There was no mention on the injury report of the stitches Davis received on Wednesday night in his lip. Williams injured his oblique on Sunday against the Grizzlies but pushed through it on Wednesday to put up an impressive 17 points.
