SURPRISE NEWS: Basketball player Luka Dončić has passed away.

Doncic knew going into the crucial Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder that he wouldn’t waste any time arguing with the officials. Like Doncic always does, he let off a lot of steam during a heartbreaking Game 4 loss. But on Wednesday, he made the decision that happiness would characterize his strategy for winning this crucial match in the antagonistic Paycom Center.

Following the 104-92 victory that put the Mavericks within one win of the West finals, Doncic remarked, “Just focus on basketball.” “Keep in mind the activity I enjoy doing. Simply engage in basketball.”

After laboring in the first four games of the series by All-NBA standards due to an injured right knee, a painful left ankle, and Thunder stopper Luguentz Dort’s suffocating defense, Doncic answered with his finest postseason performance to date. He finished with 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and 31 points.

Doncic spoke politely and briefly with the referees during his few interactions with them on Wednesday night. Throughout the game, which the Mavericks led for the last 43 minutes and 59 seconds, he refrained from arguing and squabbling.

With three 30-point triple-doubles in the playoffs, Doncic stated, “I talked to them normal without complaining— nothing.” “I believe it was nothing at all—the entire game. I simply go outside and hoop. Enjoy yourself immensely. I couldn’t help but smile—it was the same Luka.”

In the first four games of the series, Doncic was held to 22.0 points per game on 39.0% shooting; therefore, he changed his pregame routine by starting his individual warmup almost fifteen minutes earlier than normal. Doncic continued to drain jumpers, giving Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr. a positive feeling as he went through his warm-up.

It’s going to be a long day for them, I was just observing,” Jones remarked. “I’ve been saying this constantly: ’77 is fantastic.'” You can’t stop him once he finds his rhythm and gets rolling.”

Doncic quickly found his rhythm and scored the first basket of the match on a kiss-in off-dribble fadeaway off the glass. After being shoved by Thunder forward Jaren Williams, he shot a 21-footer, thinking the whistle would sound. Doncic looked at referee Kevin Scott as the ball sprayed through the net, then went backward on defense without saying anything.

He did not waver in his dominance as a distributor and scorer. He made a few shots that stopped Oklahoma City’s momentum, most notably a step-back three over Dort from Doncic’s preferred left wing position right after the Thunder cut the lead to just ten points in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Among his 11 assists were feeds to teammates that resulted in five dunks, four of which were alley-oops. The most fortunate of Doncic’s creations and crowd-drawing was Jones, who finished with 19 points on 7 of 9 shots and scored five times off of Doncic’s dimes.

Doncic shot 12-of-22 from the field, 5-of-11 from behind the 3-point arc, and 2-of-3 from the free throw line in the end. When questioned about why he was shooting so few free throws, he smiled and said he didn’t want to talk about it.

“He is a human being. When asked about Doncic’s remarkably composed attitude, Kidd responded, “He’s not a robot.” Sometimes we just assume that he will enter 30, 10, and 10. You are aware of how taxing the playoffs are on the body and mind. Recognize before the game that you won’t be receiving any calls while traveling. You must realize that you must persevere through it.”

Doncic has talked with Kidd and fellow Mavericks player Kyrie Irving about not letting his annoyance at not receiving the foul calls he feels he deserves get in the way of his game. Irving has made it clear to Doncic that the Mavericks perform best when the MVP candidate concentrates on “the greater picture” rather of getting worked up over calls that don’t go his way.

Irving, who finished with 12 points on 5 of 11 shooting, said, “I believe he can learn from this tonight as well as all of us and just continue to confirm to himself that when he is focused on just his game and he’s focused on doing the right things, then we flourish as a team.”

“When you get on the officials as though they’re flawless too, I won’t sit here and whine about him. I will not act in that manner. I was allowed to extend a small amount of leeway to my brother. Though there are occasions when criticizing the game officials is justified, I believe the referee struck a good balance tonight by concentrating just on getting us going offensively, calling the appropriate plays, and ensuring that we didn’t take our foot off the accelerator.”

Doncic helped lead Dallas in yet another swarming, commanding defensive performance. In the regular season and playoffs combined, Oklahoma City scored the fewest points of any team in the season’s finale.

With 55 seconds left, Doncic sealed the victory by thwarting Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s transition layup attempt. Doncic made light of his All-Defensive candidacy for the upcoming season after the game, but he is relishing the chance the Mavericks are currently enjoying.

“This is a unique team,” Doncic declared. “I’m having a lot of fun with this team, and we’ve only been together for like five months.”