The Trail Blazers suffered an ugly loss to the bottom-feeding Mavericks Tuesday but that could be the least of their concerns as the regular season winds down.

All-Star point guard Damian Lillard sprained his left ankle late in the 115-109 loss and told reporters he's going to be "smart" about playing with the injury.

"I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance but I’m going to be smart about it," he told reporters after the game. "It’s the end of the season, we’re going into playoffs so I have to be smart that one thing doesn’t turn into another."

Lillard, who never left Tuesday's game and scored 29 points with five rebounds and eight assists, had to be carted from the locker room to the team bus.

Lillard was transported from locker room to team bus via cart because of his sprained left ankle. pic.twitter.com/62CQVMMqd7
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) April 4, 2018

The Blazers hold a 2 1/2 game over the Spurs for the No. 3 seed in the West with four games to play in the regular season but face the Rockets, Spurs, and Nuggets on the road before hosting the Jazz in the season finale. Without Lillard, Portland is in danger of dropping to the No. 4 seed, and maybe worse.