Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Dončić out Wednesday vs. Rockets with ankle soreness

With just 10 games left on their regular season schedule and currently sitting in the fifth spot in the Western Conference at 44-28, the Dallas Mavericks are entering the most critical period of the campaign. They've not yet secured a playoff berth, but it would take a collapse of epic proportions to fall out of the mix completely.

However, with the sixth-place Denver Nuggets only two games behind Dallas and the upstart Minnesota Timberwolves just 2.5 game back in seventh, Luka Dončić and company are looking to avoid the dreaded play-in tournament. When the team hosts the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, they'll still be without the likes of guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (who's been out since January with a foot injury) among others, as well as Dončić.