As if getting thrashed by the Miami Heat on the day the Dallas Mavericks raised their 2011 NBA 
championship banner wasn’t enough, comes a report that their starting forward Shawn Marion suffered a broken finger.
Marion broke his left pinkie finger, again, during Dallas’ loss to Miami and will continue to play despite the injury such as the case was last night versus the Denver Nuggets.
“It hurts like hell,” he said. “But I’m a warrior.”
Marion scored 12 points and snagged six rebounds against the Heat.
Though the season is still fresh and one shouldn’t make huge judgments after just two games, but Dallas surely didn’t look like the same team that won the NBA title when the team faced Miami. It is quite apparent the loss of Tyson Chandler is huge as Miami was able to get anything at the rim. Also, Miami out-rebounded Dallas 51-31 and were able to score 44 points in the paint. Not to mention Dallas recorded zero blocked shots for the game.
So should this injury to Marion worsen, it certainly won’t help the Mavs’ chances at defending their title. If his injury is enough to cause him to play over-cautiously, opposing teams will exploit this thus adding another area of concern for Dallas. It’s bad enough they have no interior presence but losing a key player like Marion won’t help in a truncated season.
