Luka Doncic led the Mavericks to a 119-110 Game 2 win over the OKC Thunder on the road, talking trash with fans who have been attacking him since Game 1. Doncic spoke on the fan interactions after the win, claiming he loves it but that one ‘grown-ass’ fan crossed the line with comments about Doncic’s family.
“That’s great for me. I love it. Just there was one guy courtside, going at my family. I don’t like that, man. You’re a grown-ass man. Just can’t do that. But I did nothing. I just went back. Nothing. But just it’s crazy. It’s a grown-ass man coming at my family. It’s kind of nuts.”
Luka Doncic said “one grown ass man” was talking “about my family”.
Thunder fans are weird as f*ck. Have some shame. pic.twitter.com/s9ziWLB6rr
— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) May 10, 2024
Luka was seen aggressively talking to a Thunder fan in the fourth quarter, prompting the referees to come and guide him away from the direction. It’s unclear if this is the fan that Doncic was talking about, though he looks like a grown-ass man in the video with his salt-and-pepper hair.
https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/1788780784255447265
The Thunder fans have been trying to get Doncic off his game by chanting at him, with loud ‘Luka sucks’ chants serenading the Paycom arena in the second half.
Very loud “Luka sucks” chants from the Paycom Center crowd. He’s had some fan interaction during this game. Usually not a good strategy for the opposition. pic.twitter.com/sqA1oagMqh
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) May 10, 2024
Doncic has discussed how much he loves talking trash with fans before, so he kept responding to the trash-talk he heard after making plays to lead the Mavs to a win.
Luka calmly drilling 2fts and TALKING TRASH to some fans pic.twitter.com/Cw24M0cVqt
— MavsHighlights (@MavsHighlights) May 10, 2024
Doncic ended Game 2 with 29 points and 10 rebounds, bouncing back from a dull Game 1 performance. Luka is playing through a knee injury, which seemed to worsen during Game 2 as Doncic was seen bleeding.
Nonetheless, the Mavericks managed to win despite Luka’s injury and Kyrie scoring just nine points due to a strong defensive effort and contributions from rotational players.
Kyrie Irving Was Upset With Thunder Fans In Games 1 And 2
Kyrie Irving has already made strong comments against the fans in the series, reflecting on the intensity of the trash-talk after Game 2 and explaining how Luka was interacting with fans who tried disrespecting him in Game 1.
“Yeah, the fans threw the ball away from Luka, and then he looked like, like — where I’m from, when somebody does that, that’s like almost it’s like, and he didn’t even look at Luka eye to eye, and Luka was very nonchalant about it like he was very cool about it, and for a fan to do that, then that’s my time to step in as a teammate and be like, what the fuck? What the fuck are you doing? Excuse my language for that.”
As Doncic has said before, Irving also made it a point to mention that this Mavericks squad is only motivated by trash talk instead of fear.
“It was the same guys there. Different guys heckling, but little do they know that, that motivates us. We’re at OKC, we understand that we lost last game, they have the advantage, but we know how to quiet a crowd and us continuing to be physical, continuing to score baskets, and then at the end of the game in the fourth quarter, we can heckle them back.”
Irving is averaging 23.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.3 assists through the 2024 Playoffs while Doncic is averaging 28.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 9.1 assists. The partnership of the two is working smoother than most expected, with increased defensive effort in the postseason making them the best backcourt left in the competition.
While they have to overcome small injuries to rotational players and the absence of Maxi Kleber until the NBA Finals, the Mavericks will feel like they can possibly compete for the title.
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