Tormented Luka Doncic sends emotional message after Mavericks “revenge” game
Doncic notched a triple-double as the Lakers defeated the Mavs in Los Angeles in the teams’ first meeting after his shock trade.
Luka Doncic’s first game against the Dallas Mavericks ended in victory as the Los Angeles Lakers prevailed 107-99 at Crypto.com Arena in LA on Tuesday (February 25).
“Thank you, Nico!”
All eyes were inevitably on the Slovenian as he faced off against his former team, whose General Manager Nico Harrison initiated the shock trade of a generational talent and was mocked by Lakers fans, who chanted “Thank you, Nico!” in his direction.
Doncic recorded a triple-double with 19 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, drawing praise from onlooking fans and analysts. However, the Slovenian himself was critical of his display in a somewhat downbeat postgame interview with the TNT Postgame Show, which appeared to confirm facing his ex-employers had taken its toll on him.
Doncic’s thoughts on facing former team
“I don’t know how to explain it (facing the Mavericks). In the first quarter, second quarter, I didn’t know what was happening. It was just different, I can’t even explain how I felt”.
The 25-year-old played down his performance on more than one occasion, with “I couldn’t make nothing today” and “I tried some different stuff, it didn’t work in this game” two of the phrases that left his lips.
However, exhaustion was his main postgame emotion after a difficult few days dealing with the hype surrounding the so-called “revenge” game. “I can’t wait to go to sleep, honestly, I’m exhausted,” he repeated on both the TNT Postgame Show and to the NBA media team immediately after coming off court.
Luka Doncic’s touching message for Kyrie Irving
Doncic did, though, have a special, poignant message for his former Mavericks teammates, and Kyrie Irving in particular, in an official postgame press conference. “Kyrie is my hermano. We go way beyond basketball. It was good to see those guys. We went to wars together, and it was really fun to see them all".
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