Mavericks' Barea suffers groin strain

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Dallas Mavericks.

In addition to trailing by 26 points heading into halftime, point guard J.J. Barea also suffered a groin strain and will not return.

He scored two points in 16 minutes before exiting the game.

Barea's emergence as a key offensive weapon over the final stretch of the regular season helped push the Mavericks into the playoffs. Over his final 13 games, Barea put up 17.1 points and 5.2 assists while shooting 44.4 percent from deep and picked up a Player of the Week honor.

Without Barea, the Mavericks are down to a three-man rotation of Deron Williams, Devin Harris, and Raymond Felton to split minutes at the two guard positions.