There’s a huge question lingering over game one
It seems the Dallas Mavericks had a pretty good idea they would be playing their first game of the playoffs Saturday afternoon if their round one opponent ended up being the Utah Jazz. And the NBA communications team confirmed that after all the Sunday night games were wrapped up.
The Dallas Mavericks host the Utah Jazz for their first home playoff game of the 2022 postseason on Saturday April 16th and they play at 12:00 pm on ESPN.
Mark that calendar ️
Game 1 dates for the First Round of the 2022 NBA Playoffs presented by Google Pixel ⬇️
More information will be provided as it is finalized. pic.twitter.com/qyqgbI2Bcl
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 11, 2022
With the injury to Luka Doncic, the game couldn’t be at a worse time for Dallas. The Mavericks-Jazz game is literally the first playoff game of the postseason (excluding the play-in games during the week) and it gives Doncic just over five full days to recover from an injury that has a wide range of recovery outcomes.
The latest the second game of the series could be is Tuesday evening, but that won’t get worked out until later this week or into next weekend.