On Sunday afternoon, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks picked up a much-needed overtime victory at home vs Jalen Green and the Houston Rockets, who have now fallen off of a cliff and officially been eliminated from playoff contention following their shocking recent 11-game winning streak. Irving poured in an unbelievable total of 48 points, to go along with seven rebounds and two assists, in a Mavericks victory that saw Dallas trailing by 15 points after giving up 42 in the first quarter but ultimately clawing their way back and forcing overtime on a buzzer-beating three from Dante Exum, who has enjoyed a career resurgence this year with the franchise.
Of course, Irving did have some help in this one despite his Herculean effort, as his backcourt partner Luka Doncic poured in 37 points of his own, in addition to 12 assists and nine rebounds, in the effort to allow Dlalas to keep pace with the Los Angeles Clippers, the team they are currently trying to catch in the vaunted Western Conference playoff picture.
After the game, Doncic and Irving shared a heartwarming embrace on the hardwood to celebrate the win, and Irving broke down the moment in his post game press conference.
“At the end of the game, Luka was like, ‘I'm tired, man.' That's why I just hugged him, man, at the end of the game, because he left it all out there and he did all that he could, and everybody in this league is laboring in some sort of way, especially as we head into the playoffs, so I feel for him, I feel for a lot of my teammates, and I know they feel for me, so that was kind of like one of those ‘in the moment' type things for us as brothers to embrace each other,” said Irving, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “We know how hard we've worked, and how much work it took to get to this point in the season. There's still nothing guaranteed in terms of our seeding and where we're placed, but we just know what it feels like now to be on this side together as a duo, where we're committing to the defensive end, the offensive end, we're committing to our leadership roles, and we're committing to our teammates, and they're doing the same.”
A dynamic duo in Dallas
Indeed, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic have mostly looked the part of the offensive juggernaut they were billed up to be following Irving's trade from the Brooklyn Nets last season. The Mavericks made moves at the trade deadline to address the defensive weaknesses that backcourt inherently possesses, but Irving and Doncic will still have to hold their own against teams in the playoffs that will be hunting them relentlessly on that end of the floor.
In any case, the Mavericks next take the floor on Tuesday vs the Charlotte Hornets on the road. That game is slated to tip off at 7:00 PM ET.
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