The Dallas Mavericks came into Friday night one game away from making the playoffs, but not much went right in Memphis against the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies jumped out to a big lead in front of a raucous home crowd and, despite Anthony Davis' best efforts, ran away with the final playoff spot out West. Memphis never was in any danger of losing this one and raced to a 120-106 win.

Davis has put his body on the line just to keep the Mavericks in the game, and it came back to bite him. After limping around for much of the second half with what appeared to be a re-aggravation of his left adductor strain, Davis briefly checked out of the game with a lower right leg injury.

After a few minutes with the massage gun on the bench, Davis returned to the game and immediately knocked down a jumper. However, he continued to move with a noticeable limp and was struggling to play like his usual self, especially defensively. After the Grizzlies extended the lead to nearly 20 points with about five minutes left, Davis checked out of the game for good.

Davis missed about six weeks originally with that adductor strain, which he originally suffered in his first game with the Mavericks after being traded for Luka Doncic in a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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The injury to the star big man didn't stop him from dominating on the offensive end when he was on the floor on Friday night, even while his teammates failed to help him out. Davis finished with 40 points and nine rebounds on 16-for-29 shooting in 37 minutes.

There is now a long offseason ahead for the Mavericks as they try to figure out how to get this roster into contention in the crowded Western Conference. Despite Davis' stellar performance in this game and his clear willingness and desire to play through the pain, Jason Kidd and his staff are clearly leaning on the side of caution by pulling him out of a game that was clearly out of reach.

The Grizzlies will now move on to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs while the Mavericks turn their attention to 2025-26.