Suns Fan Ejected After Heckling Luka Doncic; Mavs Star Reveals What Happened
The best defense from the Dallas Mavericks came in the form of Luka Doncic getting a Phoenix Suns fan ejected during a 132-109 loss on Wednesday at the American Airlines Center.
With Doncic walking up the court, the Suns fan made a comment that drew the attention of the Mavs' star while second-year guard Jaden Hardy made a 3-pointer.
"Luka, you're tired," the fan allegedly said, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "Get on the treadmill."
As Doncic went back to play defense, he got the attention of a security guard, and the fan was seen on his way out of the arena soon after. However, it was later reported that he was not ejected but elected to leave after being approached by an arena staffer.
Doncic said the fan had been yelling at him the entire game up to that point and had gotten into a back-and-forth with ESPN's Tim MacMahon about the incident. Doncic also noted that he feels like he's unfairly portrayed by the media. MacMahon echoed Doncic's sentiment about the fan chirping at him the entire game.
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"He was cursing [at] me the whole first half too," Doncic said. "I never would eject a fan. They pay for tickets, but I had enough."
The incident was part of what was another frustrating loss for Dallas. The Mavs (24-20) led by as many as 16 points twice in the second quarter, the Suns closed out the first half on a 25-10 run to trim the lead to one at halftime. The Suns went on a barrage in the third quarter that was led by Devin Booker, who scored 22 points and they outscored Dallas 43-20 to blow the game open.
Phoenix has won seven straight games, while Dallas has dropped three in a row.
Booker scored 46 points and had seven rebounds plus three assists. Bradley Beal scored 20 points and had seven rebounds and seven assists, and Kevin Durant had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Doncic flirted with a 30-point triple-double for the third consecutive game, but fell just short with 34 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. No other starter for Dallas scored more eight points. Tim Hardaway led the bench with 17 points, and Hardy scored 11 points.
The Mavs were without Kyrie Irving, who was out with a sprained right thumb.
