Former Dallas Mavericks forward Grant Williams learned the hard way not to mess with Luka Doncic, as Mavericks assistant coach Michael Finley recently recounted a story revealing how the Slovenian star turned Williams’ trash talk into a showcase of dominance.
During a practice session, Williams attempted to provoke Doncic, believing he wasn’t prepared to compete that day. However, Doncic used Williams’ taunts as motivation, unleashing a relentless display of skill on the court.
Despite Williams’ attempts to rattle him with trash talk, Doncic responded with an awe-inspiring performance, single-handedly orchestrating a remarkable 26-6 scoring run during the scrimmage.
Finley recalled the intense practice session, emphasizing Doncic’s ability to silence his detractors with an array of offensive moves, including three-pointers, post-up plays, and floaters.
“One day in practice a player on our team, I won’t call his name out, but it was Grant Williams, he decided he wanted to get under Luka’s skin. He felt that Luka didn’t come that day ready to practice,” Finley said on 105.3 The Fan.
“So make a long story short, they have a scrimmage going, he’s talking trash to Luka up and down the court. So finally Luka says ‘Okay.’ And I tell you, Luka went on a 26-6 run by himself. Look, you can ask anybody, I’m not exaggerating. It was like a 26-6 run by himself. He showed everything – the threes, the post up, floaters, everything by himself.”
Remarkably, Doncic’s solo scoring spree occurred without any verbal retorts to Williams’ provocations, leaving everyone in the gym, including coaches and spectators, in awe of his sheer brilliance.
When asked if Doncic was talking back to Williams, Finley said “No,” and continued “With everybody on the sideline, including the coach was like ‘Do not poke the bear.’
“And we had guests in the gym and the time and they were on the sideline oohing and aah. It was unbelievable. I was over there. The kid couldn’t miss. And I’m not talking an easy shot. He was showing the whole repertoire. And this five, six-minute span was like a 26-6 run by himself.”
Doncic’s exceptional performance in practice mirrors his dominance on the NBA court this season, where he leads the league in scoring with an average of 34.6 points per game.
Beyond scoring, Doncic is also averaging 9.1 rebounds and 9.9 assists in 37.5 minutes per game.
