During Game 5 of the NBA Finals at TD Garden in Boston, the pressure finally got to Luka Doncic. After being targeted on defense by the Boston Celtics and on social media by NBA fans and journalists, the Dallas Mavericks star finally snapped. A Celtics fan courtside captured his shocking insult on video.
At the time the video was recorded, the Mavericks were already down 80-62, and clearly Luka could see the writing on the wall. He had failed his team. After making a belated attempt to control his emotions better in the last two games of the series, he finally cracked, and the unlucky Celtics fan was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Of course, the short clip lacked any context, meaning the fan could have said something to Doncic before. Either way, the Slovenian’s words were unacceptable. He had been baited by talking heads and social media warriors all series and did not give in. But once Game 5 had clearly slipped away, he let the obscenities fly.
Luka’s backcourt partner Kyrie Irving faced much worse abuse from the fans in Boston, where he used to play and left on fractured terms. He never said anything back, and even dapped up the whole Celtics team and coaching staff when the final buzzer sounded, signaling the franchise’s record 18th NBA title.