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Luka Dončić Meme Goes Viral Ahead of Celtics-Mavericks NBA Finals Game 5
As the Dallas Mavericks gear up for a pivotal Game 5 against the Boston Celtics on Monday night, Mavs fans banded together in a hilarious way to support their team in a time of crisis.
Down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, Dallas could see their postseason hopes come to an end at TD Garden on Monday despite coming off a blowout 122–84 victory in Game 4. Hours before tip-off, Mavericks fans united over one singular image: a viral meme of Luka Dončić.
#MavsTwitter, you know what to do. #OneForDallas #MFFL pic.twitter.com/3Nze9lXhiZ
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) June 17, 2024
The Doncic meme is inspired by the the iconic LeBron James meme from 2016 when the then-Cleveland Cavaliers star wore sunglasses and earbuds on an NBA TV broadcast ahead of Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. “No team in NBA Finals history has come back from trailing 3-1 (0-32)," the graphic read under the picture of James.
Of course, Dallas’s current situation mirrors that of the Cavs in the 2016 NBA Finals, in which Cleveland overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA title.
On Monday, when the Mavericks attempt to rewrite history as the Cavaliers did eight years ago, they’ll have the motivational power of a thousand photoshopped Dončić memes to help them, as hordes of Mavericks fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, have changed their profile pictures ahead of the 8:30 p.m. tip-off.
Perfectly normal day on Mavs Twitter pic.twitter.com/ZIhm1IrCSt
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) June 17, 2024
Mavs Twitter
— Slightly Biased (@BiasedSlightly) June 17, 2024
pic.twitter.com/U8G5g5zgws
If we lose tonight we’re leaving here with something…
— mavsmarie (@mavsmarie) June 17, 2024
A solid few hours of peace between all users on Mavs Twitter. Truly a rare moment in time. No one arguing. No one getting cooked. Just insanely delusional vibes, hopes and dreams, and a million Luka profile pictures.
This sums up Mavs Twitter today pic.twitter.com/AkV92bpvCP
— el (@eleesalw) June 17, 2024
Mavs Twitter has reached diabolical levels of locked in pic.twitter.com/oXpgNVaF4S
— Jo (@MavsStan41) June 17, 2024
Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.