Game 7 Blowout and Doncic Smirk

Five days after Devin Booker’s “The Luka special” and one day after Luka Doncic’s “Everybody acts tough when they’re up,” the series returned to Phoenix for Game 7 on May 15, 2022. The Mavericks delivered a stunning wire-to-wire rout, beating the Suns 123-90 at Footprint Center to clinch the Western Conference semifinal series. Luka Doncic set the tone immediately with 27 first-half points—matching Phoenix’s entire team total before halftime—and finished with 35 points overall, per ESPN’s later rivalry timeline [2]. The lopsided nature of the game contrasted sharply with the jawing of prior days, suggesting Dallas’ reply would be written in the scoreline rather than in more quips. Amid the blowout, a photograph of Doncic smirking in close proximity to Booker circulated widely on social media, furnishing a signature image that paired with the week’s signature one-liners [2]. It was the game that flipped context: Phoenix had enjoyed a 110-80, 30-point Game 5 win and a wave of viral momentum after Booker’s comment; Dallas walked out of Game 7 with a 33-point victory and a meme-ready face from Doncic near his rival. ESPN’s compilation emphasizes this triad—Booker’s mock, Doncic’s counter, and the decisive blowout—arguing that the 2022 series is the wellspring of the rivalry’s recurring highlights and narratives [2].

Game 7 cemented that this rivalry is about more than talk: Dallas produced an overwhelming response on Phoenix’s floor. Doncic’s 35 points and a first half that matched the Suns’ output turned a week of quotes into a lasting scoreboard receipt, rebalancing the narrative after the Suns’ Game 5 swagger [2]. The circulating smirk photo near Booker became the rivalry’s emblematic image, repeatedly resurfacing in later coverage and fan debates. Viewed alongside “The Luka special” and “Everybody acts tough,” the blowout established a rhythm that would recur in 2023 and beyond: barbs, cameras, and then decisive moments that keep the story alive even between meetings [2].

While the series ended that night, the personal rivalry did not. When the teams met again on March 5, 2023 in Dallas, a tight finish rekindled the competitive friction: after a potential game-tying miss, Doncic barked, “Shut the f--- up!” at Booker, the two went face-to-face, and each drew a technical foul. Postgame, Doncic jabbed, “Just next time, don’t wait until there’s three seconds left to talk,” while Booker leaned in with, “Here you go. We got some smoke,” even as he maintained respect for Doncic on and off the court [3][6]. In 2024, a Suns-jersey fan incident involving Doncic in Dallas illustrated the rivalry’s charged atmosphere in regular-season settings, and by 2025 Booker was still comfortable tossing social jabs online—evidence that the 2022 sequence, punctuated by Game 7, continues to inform how both stars and their fan bases engage [7][8].