Instead of voicing his displeasure with the officials nearly as much as usual, Luka Doncic worried less and played more basketball.
It worked, and now the Dallas Mavericks have a shot of sending the West no.1 OKC Thunder home.
“Just [being] focused on basketball. Remember the thing I love to do and play basketball,” Doncic spoke after dropping a 30-point triple-double in the Mavericks’ 104-92 Game 5 win over the Thunder to move a win away from the Western Conference Finals.
“I talk to them normally without complaining. I just go out there and have fun. I was the old Luka with a smile on my face,” the multi-time All-Star added.
Yes he is, the same, old Luka Magic who’s capable of torching his opponents anyway they want.
Doncic recorded 31 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds for his sixth career playoff triple-double and jokingly responded on his clutch block on co-MVP finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander down the stretch.
[ALSO READ: Doncic drops 30-point triple-double in Game 5, Mavericks send West no.1 Thunder to brink of elimination]
"Next year, All-NBA Defensive Team," the Slovenian superstar said.
"Next year, All-NBA Defensive Team" 😆 pic.twitter.com/YcmoXUG9jV
— NBA (@NBA) May 16, 2024
Not impossible though, but on this night, Luka and the Mavericks responded big-time after a deflating Game 4 loss.
“I think we’re playing great defense. Some stuff that we didn’t do in the past games, we did today. We just played with a lot of pace.”
With the win, Dallas improved to 4-0 after losing a game in this year’s postseason and Doncic remained wary of taking it one game at a time while commending his squad’s composure as the Thunder staged multiple comeback attempts in the final frame.
“Just our mentality. We know the last game we played them [Thunder] at home, we let it go. We made some mistakes, they hit shots. In the playoffs, it’s first to four, you got to win four before they do and we gonna go game by game.“
"They [Thunder] made a run, we stayed together, especially in the fourth quarter at their home. Everybody talked and supported each other and that's what we need to do.“
Game 6 of the series returns to Dallas on May 16, Sunday, Philippine time. It will air at 8 a.m. LIVE on NBA TV Philippines and the Pilipinas Live app.
