Mike Conley Jr. left the Utah Jazz's series-clinching Game 5 blowout early with right hamstring soreness and never returned.
He exited the game with 8:58 remaining in the second quarter, having recorded seven points and two assists, including the first quarter buzzer-beater, before heading back to the locker room.
A summary of @MCONLEY10 this series: pic.twitter.com/WY2CXuv0Lo
— utahjazz (@utahjazz) June 3, 2021
"End of the first quarter, I felt a little tug in my hammy and came to the bench, made the staff aware and told them I'd try to play through it," Conley said postgame. "It just kept getting sorer."
"Seeing how the game was going, and that we might have some days off coming up, pulled the plug tonight."
With the Jazz's 126-110 Game 5 victory, they advance to the Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2018. There they will play the winner of the Clippers-Mavericks matchup, and thus will have at least an extra couple of days off.
Calling the injury a hamstring tweak, he also shared that it wasn't as bad as the one he suffered towards the end of the regular season when he missed nine of the team's last 11 regular-season games.
"I feel like I'll be fine eventually," Conley continued. "Hopefully that's Game 1 of the 2nd round, but right now we just don't know. We'll reassess tomorrow."
Through the series against Memphis, the veteran point guard has been a crucial part of the Jazz's play, with averages of 17.4 points and 8.6 assists with shooting splits of 46.7 percent from the field, 54.8 percent from beyond the arc and a perfect 100 percent from the free-throw line.
"Frustrated. Frustrated for sure. It's something I've worked tirelessly, night and day on," Conley said postgame on the injury. "One of those things you don't know when it'll happen or why it happened."
With the Clippers-Mavericks series going to a Game 6, set for Saturday ET, Conley will have at least until Monday for Game 1 of the Conference Semifinals to rest and recover.
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