Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic did not divulge what a fan said to him early on in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals between the Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
A Target Center fan was waving a handkerchief at Luka Doncic early in the first quarter, apparently in reference to him crying for fouls. Doncic saw him and smiled, and now he keeps looking to the fan's side of court during this early 20-point flurry.
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 31, 2024
Doncic outscored the Timberwolves on his own in the first quarter of the game. The Slovenian tallied 20 points while shooting 8-of-11 from the field, while Minnesota mustered just 19 points as a team in the opening frame.
rtghbtrj pic.twitter.com/uMDjFRWsPf
— Ben Hustle (@BenHustle4) May 31, 2024
“Yeah — oh, I can’t tell you,” Doncic said regarding what his interaction with a fan was about. “If I tell you, I could sue him. But, that gets me going. Everybody knows that by now, so just gotta do it.”
Doncic finished with 36 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals in a game the Mavericks won by a score of 124-103.
Thanks in part to the play of Doncic, the Mavericks have punched their ticket to the 2024 NBA Finals, where they will take on Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics, who cruised through the first three rounds of the playoffs.
The Celtics lost just two playoff games on their way to the NBA Finals, with those losses coming in Game 2 of the team’s first-round series against the Miami Heat and Game 2 of the squad’s second-round matchup versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Granted, the teams in Boston’s path to the championship series all dealt with poor injury luck. Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier were sidelined for the entirety of the first round, Donovan Mitchell sat out Games 4 and 5 of the second round and Tyrese Haliburton missed Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Unfortunately for fans of the Mavericks, they will have to wait a bit before their team plays in an NBA Finals game for the first time since 2011. Game 1 of the championship series is slated for June 6, which is nearly a week away at this point in time.
Additionally, Game 2 is scheduled for June 9 before the series moves to Dallas for Games 3 and 4.
It will be fascinating to witness how Doncic performs in his first NBA Finals and if he will be able to replicate his Game 5 performance against the Timberwolves in Game 1 at TD Garden against a Celtics team that lost just four games at home during the 2023-24 regular season.
