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Monta Ellis plays through apparent leg injury in pivotal Game 5

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

If there's one thing known to be true about Monta Ellis, it's that there are few tougher when it comes to playing hurt.

Ellis has missed just two games in the last three seasons and  just 12 over the last five, despite playing the most regular-season minutes in the NBA since the start of the 2010-11 season. He is, in a phrase, an iron man.

So when Ellis asked out of the fourth quarter of Game 5 against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, he must have been in a great deal of pain.

Ellis appeared to hurt his knee on an offensive possession with roughly 5:30 to play in the game, in which his Dallas Mavericks were facing elimination. Trainers tended to him on the baseline following the possession, after which Ellis was taken out of the game, limping and wincing.

It only took 41 seconds of game action for Ellis to deem himself ready to return, at which point he was visibly limping up and down the floor.

With the season on the line and the Mavericks already without Chandler Parsons and Rajon Rondo, Ellis playing the game's closing minutes was Dallas's best chance at extending its season. Dallas had been 14.4 points per 100 possessions better in the series with Ellis on the floor than off, a pattern that continued Monday.

It didn't end up mattering, as the Rockets held serve with a 5-5 draw over the next 3:18 of play, entering the game's final 68 seconds with a 99-91 lead. Ellis would be subbed out for good at that point, and the Rockets would close out the series with a 103-94 victory.

Ellis had 25 points, four rebounds, seven assists and four steals in 42 minutes. He averaged 18.9 points and 4.1 assists during the regular season and had totaled 105 points in the first four games of the series.

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