NEW ORLEANS – The Mavericks were not happy when they fell behind by 19 points against New Orleans and couldn’t see a late comeback through to fruition.

But the events of Wednesday evening, including the 113-106 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, aren’t as important as what’s coming Thursday.

The Mavericks went without Luka Dončić in the fourth quarter when they were trying to run down the Pelicans as the superstar point guard sat out with soreness in his left thigh. He had asked to come out late in the third quarter with what was termed a left thigh strain. It’s been bothering him for more than a week, he said, and on Wednesday, it became too severe to play through.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to do an MRI,” Dončić said. “We’ll see if everything is fine. Just ice and therapy and that’s it. We’ll see more tomorrow.”

The results of that test will help determine how long, or if, Doncic will need to rest the thigh. The Mavericks have two days off before playing Memphis on Saturday.

“I think we all can see he’s not moving well,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Shooting, defense. It’s affecting everything. He’s trying to fight through it and help his teammates. But he had to leave there.

“Hopefully it’s not something serious. We have a couple days here before we play Memphis. Hopefully, he’s back soon.”

Asked to describe what is going on with his thigh, Doncic said: “It’s not good. It’s been going for a week, maybe more. I can’t really push off my leg. Getting into my rhythm running, I can feel it. But mostly on the jump shots. You need both legs. So pushing off has been hard.”

Doncic said the first quarter wasn’t bad, but the longer the game went on, things got progressively worse.

“Especially in the third,” he said. “It was hurting more and more, where I could barely even run.”

Doncic said the injury wasn’t caused by some specific moment. He woke up after a game last week, he said, and it was sore. He thinks it was after the Los Angeles Lakers’ game. Regardless, it has refused to improve and, in fact, seems to have gotten worse.

Doncic was on the floor for his normal minutes in the first half, but he shot just 3-of-12 and the Mavericks had a terrible second quarter to fall behind by 16 points at halftime. They never made up the deficit in the second half.

And yet, the Mavericks had a slim chance to pull out the win late thanks to a comeback that was orchestrated by Kyrie Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Davis Bertans.

Combined they were good. But New Orleans’ C.J. McCollum was better. He hit four consecutive buckets, three of them from three-point range, as the Pelicans were able to stave off the Mavericks. The last triple put New Orleans up 108-100 with under two minutes left.

While Hardaway and Irving both would hit three-pointers on the ensuing possessions, McCollum, who had a game-best 32 points, drove for a basket and then Naji Marshall hit two free throws with 21.1 to go to make it 112-106 and the Mavericks dropped to 34-33.

The Pelicans, who are calling this “go time” as they start a stretch of eight games — six of which are at home — upped their record to 32-34.

The Mavericks, who got 27 points from Irving, were fighting from behind when the Pelicans started the second quarter with a 12-2 blitz. By the time the quarter was done, the Mavericks were outscored 35-19 and had shot just 8-of-24 from the field and 0-for-7 from three-point land.

That landed the Mavericks in a 59-43 hole going into the second half.

The Mavericks had a hard time making headway in the third quarter. They got within 69-61, but the Pelicans responded with a 9-2 tear that put them up 78-63.

When the Mavericks went into the fourth quarter down 83-65 and that margin proved too great to overcome for a team playing on the second night of a back-to-back with only 23 hours in between tipoffs.

The Mavericks looked like a team running on fumes at times against the Pelicans. And yet, they had enough in the tank to get within 97-89 after a four-point play by Irving, who again was working his fourth-quarter magic.

The absence of Doncic certainly hurt the comeback attempt. And there was more bad news.

In the first quarter, Doncic picked up his 15th technical foul of the season. One more and he will face a one-game suspension.

“No, I didn’t get an explanation,” Doncic said. “I just asked them to call a foul. I shouldn’t say anything, I’m really trying to do better. For me, it’s hard though because of my passion. I’m trying to help win games so I have to do better.”

For the first time, by the way, since December 5 and 6, Dončić played on the second night of back-to-back games. He has typically sat out the second night, doing so four times.

Kidd said there’s a legitimate reason why the superstar point guard was available on Wednesday.

“Just looking at the schedule then and trying to find times to give him a break,” Kidd said. “So, 15 games still left (in the regular season), there’s no room for a break. He’s able to go, he’s ready to go. Kai (Kyrie Irving) is ready to go. So you’re just playing out the schedule from here.”

In other words, all hands on deck as the Mavericks now jockey for position in the crowded house that is the Western Conference standings.

Briefly: Maxi Kleber continues to deal with soreness in his right hamstring and was out Wednesday, as was JaVale McGee and Reggie Bullock. McGee missed his second game with an ankle injury and Bullock was out with a quad contusion. “Hopefully he feels better,” Kidd said of Bullock. “Tomorrow being off and hopefully by Saturday he’s ready to go.” . . . The Pelicans remain without big man Zion Williamson, who has had a hamstring problem since shortly after Christmas. The team announced before Wednesday’s game that Williamson would be re-evaluated in two weeks. Pelicans coach Willie Green said the team was “definitely optimistic” that Williamson would return before the end of the regular season. “He’s progressing, but we’re extremely mindful . . . last time we got to six weeks and he wasn’t quite ready,” Green said. “So we want to make sure we’re mindful of that. In two weeks we’ll look at him and see where we are.”

Twitter: @ESefko

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