DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks forward Shawn Marion limped down the American Airlines Center tunnel Tuesday afternoon after discovering he'll miss at least the next three games with a sprained left medial collateral ligament.
The injury occurred midway through the third quarter of Monday's 114-91 victory over the
Portland Trail Blazers. Marion said teammate Elton Brand accidently forced his knee to buckle when he hit him after Marion fired up a 7-foot jumper.
"I'm all right,'' Marion said. "It's a little minor thing to deal with, I'll treat it and take one day at a time.
"EB kind of hit me on my way down a little bit and it buckled. It could have been a lot worst -- luckily it's not.''
With Dirk Nowitzki (knee surgery) and now Marion out, the Mavs are without their top two players.
"It'll affect us a lot,'' coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's really our best player right now with Dirk out, so now we've got our two best players out, so it's going to be challenging.
"We've got to step it up and do it collectively with high intensity and playing our game. It's not easy.''
Marion will miss Wednesday's home game against Toronto and the upcoming two-game road trip against the New York Knicks and Charlotte Bobcats. The Mavs said he'll be re-evaluated next week.
Rookie Jae Crowder and Dahntay Jones are among the players who will have their work load increased while Marion's out.
"I'm just going to take it one day at a time and get better,'' Marion said. "I'm going to treat it and get better.
"It's very frustrating. I hate being on the side watching -- I'd rather be out there playing on the floor -- but it's part of it and it's something you've got to deal with.''
-- Dwain Price
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