Punisher of the pick-and-roll by day; slayer of Western Conference No. 1 seeds by night. Crammed into a phone booth-tight situation with the Oklahoma City Thunder determined to neutralize his ball-screen brilliance with an aggressive blitz, Luka Dončić puts on a clinic on how to stay one step ahead, swinging a pass to his teammate before cutting into the wide-open space in the middle of the floor. Back in a reasonable situation with only Chet Holmgren blocking his path and his talented, lob-snatching teammate in his peripheral, Dončić turns to the tried-and-true connection, hanging an alley-oop pass through the skies for his teammate to snag on the way to a powerful two-handed flush. Two victories away from both returning to the Western Conference Finals and dethroning yet another top-ranked finisher in the Wild West, Dončić’s performance in the must-have Game Five reflected as such. Catapulting his team to victory on May 15, 2024, the five-time All-Star contributed 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists — his second-consecutive triple-double and sixth of his postseason career — paired with one block and a game-high five 3-pointers. · May 16, 2024