As the Dallas Mavericks pulled away from the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2, the former’s star duo barked back at the hostile home crowd.
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving didn’t leave OKC without a few extracurricular activities. Both had their fair share of exchanges with Thunder fans in the opening two contests of their second-round series.
Doncic served a courtside fan a warning by the league in Game 1. Later in the game, the same fan refused to give the 25-year-old the basketball in hopes of a quick inbound pass.
Irving also talked smack throughout various points of Game 2. The 32-year-old left the court with a tongue-in-cheek comment about it being “truly Oklahoma” as the crowd synchronized in “Luka sucks!” chants in the final moments.
The playoff intensity will only escalate for the rest of this series. Both the Thunder and Mavericks have passionate fan bases that provide their respective squads a notable homecourt advantage.
But according to Doncic and Irving, they believe Thunder fans should tone it down and keep it strictly basketball trash talk. The former revealed he heard vulgar remarks about his personal life.
“That’s great for me. I love it,” Doncic said on the fan heckling. “Just there was one guy courtside, going at my family. I don’t like that, man.
“You’re a grown-a– man. Just can’t do that. But I didn’t do nothing. I just went back. Nothing. But just it’s crazy. It’s a grown-a– man come at my family. It’s kinda nuts.”
Irving expressed a similar sentiment that was notably lengthier. The multi-time All-Star believes it roots in fans trying to have their 15 minutes of fame as all eyes of the sports world tuned into their playoff game.
“This is not about you right now. You know, you’re not even wearing the Thunder blue shirt. You’re trying to distinguish yourself out here,” Irving said about fan heckling. “You’re trying to get on Twitter to stay active. Like, I know, come on, that’s our generation that we’re in.
“Everybody’s trying to go viral when they’re at NBA games instead of focusing on the players and the task at hand.”
As the series progresses, the hostility will only increase in both fan bases. The Thunder can expect similar levels of taunting in games 3 and 4 at Dallas.
This is what the playoffs are about as both teams fight it out for the Western Conference finals. The Thunder and Mavericks will battle in what will likely be a grueling series that goes the distance.
