Luka Doncic comments on Marcus Morris stepping on his ankle

Luka Doncic isn’t a fan of Marcus Morris’ words or actions in this series.

The Dallas Mavericks had a rough game on Tuesday night. They were blown out by the Los Angeles Clippers 154-111 in a pivotal Game 5. Luka Doncic had a less than stellar follow up to his magical Game 4. Doncic finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. He shot 6-of-17 from the field and 1-of-6 from downtown. However, there was a bigger storyline involving the Mavs point guard outside of his performance in Game 5.

In the third quarter of the contest, Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. was moving towards Doncic to guard him on an inbound pass. As he approached the Mavs guard, Morris stepped on his ankle which resulted in Doncic’s shoe coming off. It was the same ankle that the Mavs star injured earlier in the series.  NBA Twitter proceeded to analyze the situation, many believing Morris’ actions were intentional.

Luka Doncic offers his thoughts on his ankle being stepped on

After the game, Doncic commented on the play in question. He said the only person who knows if it was intentional or not is Morris. “I have my own thoughts. I hope it wasn’t intentional. Tell me, what do you think? I just hope it wasn’t intentional…If that was intentional, that’s really bad,” said Doncic at his postgame press conference.

He added that he doesn’t want to talk to Morris about the incident, or at all even. “I don’t want to talk to him. He’s just saying a lot of bad stuff to me. I don’t want to talk to him. I just got to move on.”

Morris tweeted out a response to people thinking he stepped on Doncic’s ankle intentionally. “I play this game with a level of respect for myself and other players. To think I would go out there to injure somebody is crazy to me.”

Morris and Doncic were involved in a heated situation earlier in the series. In Game 1, the Clippers forward grabbed Doncic after a play. This caused Kristaps Poszingis to step in and a shoving match ensued. Both received technical fouls. Since it was Porzingis’ second, he was ejected from the game. This recent situation adds more fire to what has been a physical and chippy first-round series.

Marcus Morris has a history of being involved in what some would consider dirty plays. There was a situation in the NBA preseason where Morris slammed the ball on the head of Justin Anderson. This play in Game 5 is another one to add to his resume.

Luka Doncic is ready to move on from this ordeal, but he left it up to the viewers to decide if the actions of Morris were malicious. There are multiple angles of the play, so fans and analysts have more than enough footage to decide for themselves. Despite Doncic wanting to put this behind him, it could come to a head in Game 6. The energy will be intensified because the Mavericks will be fighting for their playoff lives down 3-2.