HOUSTON -- Dallas Mavericks small forward Chandler Parsons did not play in a 111-99 Game 2 loss to the Houston Rockets due to soreness in his right knee and could miss the rest of the series against his former team.
The Mavs were also without key reserve guard Devin Harris, who is dealing with turf toe in his left big toe and related pain in the second toe on that foot, which was surgically repaired in the summer of 2013.
Parsons, who left the Rockets to sign a three-year, $46 million deal with the Mavs as a restricted free agent last summer, will be re-evaluated Wednesday in Dallas by Mavs team doctor T.O. Souryal. A determination could be made then on his potential availability for the remainder of the series.
The injury caused Parsons to miss the final six games of the regular season before he returned for Game 1. He played 37 minutes in the Mavs' series-opening loss despite dealing with obvious pain, scoring 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting and grabbing six rebounds.
MRIs have revealed no structural damage to Parsons' knee, which he originally injured during a 27-point, 10-rebound performance on March 29 against the Indiana Pacers. He played in the next two games, leaving a March 2 loss to the Rockets in the third quarter due to swelling and soreness.
The swelling in Parsons' knee had subsided at one point, but he has aggravated the injury on a couple of occasions, once during a workout while rehabbing and again after landing following a dunk during the second quarter of Game 1.
"It's become clear to those of us close to the team and him that he's been in more pain than he's let on," Carlisle said. "The fact that the knee has not responded and the swelling has not dissipated the way that we had hoped means right now that we've got to pull the plug on tonight, and then he's got to see Doc tomorrow and we've got to see what's what."
