Former 2nd Overall Pick Breaks Down Why Luka Doncic Fouling Out In Game 3 Should be ‘Illegal’

The Dallas Mavericks’ hopes of turning the NBA Finals series around in Game 3 faced an unfavorable outcome. While squaring off against the Boston Celtics at home, Luka Doncic shockingly fouled out of the game, paving the way for the hosts’ defeat. Shortly after, Evan Turner voiced against this unprecedented instance, raising the eyebrows of the NBA followers.

The 2nd overall pick of the 2010 draft pointed out this moment as an ‘illegal‘ one. He believed that the Mavs talisman was unjustifiably thrown out of a high-voltage clash of this nature. Turner later rationalized his stance by ironically highlighting Doncic’s lack of defensive endeavors as a major source of his disbelief.

Expressing his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter), the 35-year-old wrote,

“Dear nba, It should be illegal to foul out Luka doncic while it’s a close game and there are no other nba games on. Y’all Buggin. And how Luka even get 6 fouls if he don’t try to guard??”.

More than the foul call, Turner’s frustration majorly circled the timing of this moment. After all, the tides were slowly turning in the Mavs’ favor during the fourth quarter. Registering a 20-2 spurt, the hosts cut down the deficit to merely three points toward the end of the game.

But, Doncic’s dubious attempt to guard a driving Jaylen Brown abruptly ended this momentum. It resulted in him gathering his 6th foul, forcing him to leave the court with 4:12 remaining. This crushed his franchise’s hopes for a comeback, recording their third consecutive defeat of the series.

This sequence failed to substantiate Turner’s words, which contained a pinch of bias in favor of the Mavs. The game officials did their job, expectedly receiving polar opposite reactions from the two fanbases.

Meanwhile, Doncic seems to have accepted the turn of events while taking accountability for his actions.

Luka Doncic regretted the outcome

Shortly after Game 3, the 26-year-old reflected on the result during an interview with ESPN’s Malika Andrews. He owned up to his mistake while admitting to letting his franchise down during the clash. Following the game’s conclusion, Doncic revealed to be confessing to his teammates,

“It was my bad. Can’t do that, especially in the NBA Finals. Where this is a little bit different, but can’t really do that in the Finals”.

The roster seems to have rightly moved on from the unexpected consequences. Now, their focus remains solely on securing victories in the upcoming games. This may become a near-impossible task, however, as the NBA has never witnessed a team winning a playoff series from a 0-3 deficit (0-156).

Can Doncic’s Mavs become the first one to do so?