Luka Doncic's harsh criticism of Rudy Gobert on the court on Friday night has already become a meme, but he may have burned Gobert even more harshly off the court after leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 109-108 comeback win over Gobert's Minnesota Timberwolves.
With Dallas trailing by just two points in the fourth quarter, Doncic switched and cornered Gobert, eventually skating down the defending Defensive Player of the Year in a move that Reggie Miller described on air as “dancing with the stars.” After staggering Gobert with just seconds left in the game, Doncic drained a 3-pointer to take the lead and take a 2-0 series lead.
After the clutch bucket, Luka, never one to shy away from swearing, let Rudy know how he really felt.
If the result holds, Doncic's yell of victory under the cold gaze of Gobert, who was already imagining how much Doncic would be panned on the Internet for Luka still making a very difficult shot, may be remembered as an iconic image of the 2024 Western Conference Finals.
Luka claimed after the game that he didn't actually tell Gobert to “stop guarding me” and that he was speaking in Slovenian, but what he said on TV wasn't lost in translation: Luka didn't continue attacking Gobert after the on-court match was over.
In his postgame interview with Inside the NBA, Luka used less vulgar language but was somehow even meaner. He and Shaq laughed at Gobert's Defensive Player of the Year award, and then Luka described their matchup in the cruellest terms possible while still remaining humble.
“I can't move fast, but I can move faster than him,” Doncic said.
We'll see if this little celebration is something the Timberwolves can come together to do when this series returns to Dallas, but it's going to be a tough time for Rudy Gobert, at least for the next few days.
It's as tough as substituting arguably the best player in the world when a game is on the line. largely.
