BREAKING: Mavs Coach Carlisle OUT Vs. Knicks With Positive COVID Test

This is supposed to be a momentous night in New York for Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. But at this moment, it's a COVID night

Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks look for a momentous victory at Madison Square Garden vs. the New York Knicks on Friday night, and part of the fun regarding the battle between two teams vying for playoff positioning was to be about Mavs coach Rick Carlisle's 1,500th NBA game coached.

But that is on hold at the moment, as Carlisle has announced, just over an hour before tipoff, that he's tested positive for COVID.

Carlisle said that this morning he "had an unexpected positive test. There's a chance and a hope that it will be a false-positive."

The testing will continue on Carlisle–who says he has been fully vaccinated since January–but assistant Jamahl Mosely will serve as Friday's head coach in a game that marks another return to New York for former Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis.

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Carlisle, who owns a record as 819-680 as a coach, this week looked forward to the 1,500 game by saying, “When you get into this league as a player and you had an opportunity to make the league, you hope it never ends. When I moved over to coaching it was a similar thing. It’s a highly competitive business. I’ve never taken it for granted. I’ve really approached it that every day is like a one-day contract, and I try to find the joy in the journey of each season.”

At this moment, "the journey'' includes the oddity of Rick Carlisle being unavailable for that ballyhooed and anticipated 1,500th game.

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