Don’t look now, but the Dallas Mavericks are two last-second shots from having won six straight games in the post-Luka Doncic era.
They lost to the 76ers when Naji Marshall’s potential winning layup fell off the side of the rim and to the Kings when DeMar DeRozan stepped through a double team on the baseline for a game-winner with two seconds left.
Sandwiched around that, the Mavericks have defeated three good-to-great teams in the Celtics, Rockets and, on Wednesday, the new-look Warriors, who were handed their first defeat since adding Jimmy Butler. Then on Thursday, in their last game before the All-Star break, the Mavericks (30-26) took care of Butler’s old team, the Miami Heat, to mark a 4-2 stretch since Doncic’s departure.
This was, and probably still is, a staggered Mavericks team trying to cling to the task at hand in the wake of not only the dumbest sports trade since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees (perhaps because he wasn’t committed to conditioning) but the nearly immediate injury to Davis just 31 minutes into his Dallas career. But the Mavs have remained in the fight, and Kyrie Irving is leading the charge.
In the five games he’s played since the Doncic trade, Irving is averaging over 27 points and has gone for 30-plus three times. He torched the Warriors on Wednesday for 42 with seven 3-pointers, including three straight in less than a minute to stretch Dallas’ lead from six to 15 in the blink of an eye.
Irving, who sat out Thursday (rest), was extraordinary as a shot maker on Wednesday despite Golden State going to great lengths to force the ball out of his hands. But it was his defense that sealed the win when he stepped in front of Butler for a charge on what would’ve been a game-tying bucket, and a potential three-point play, with Dallas clinging to a two-point lead in the waning seconds.
“It reaffirms what I’ve known since I’ve grown up watching him and since I’ve been in the league of how phenomenal a player he is,” Max Christie, who came over from the Lakers in the Doncic deal, said of Irving. “Offensively, he absolutely put us on his back… And then defensively, he makes the biggest play of the game with that charge on Jimmy at the end.
“Just speaks to him as a player, his character as an individual, and his leadership for us as a team. He’s obviously a phenomenal player, but the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet with his hustle and leadership for us as a team is super important and I’ve noticed it from day one.”
Kyrie holding Mavericks and their fanbase together
There’s no question the Mavericks remain in a precarious position. Heading into the All-Star break, Dallas is just two games in the loss column above the lottery line, and all three big men — Davis, who could be out a month, Dereck Lively III (ankle fracture) and Daniel Gafford, who has suffered a Grade 3 MCL sprain and will miss at least six weeks, per ESPN — are going to be on the shelf for a good chunk of the post-All-Star schedule.
It’s going to be an uphill climb for Dallas to even hang into a play-in berth. The lone reason for optimism, really, is Irving, who, more than ever, feels like the glue holding this Mavs team and fanbase together. The crowd was electric for the win over Golden State, a much-needed injection of joy administered by an Irving masterpiece. If and when the Mavericks can ever get to full health, this is still a team that can compete for the Western Conference crown.
Again, there’s no way to justify trading an all-time great player at 25 years old when taking an even halfway long view, but right now, if they get Davis back, and at least one of Gafford or Lively by the playoffs, and if Irving can keep them afloat in the meantime, the Mavs can be arguably just as dangerous as they were last season when they went to the Finals with Doncic, if not a little bit more.
This is not going to be easy on Irving. Marshall’s aforementioned potential game-winner that slid off the rim vs. Philadelphia highlighted the increased defensive attention that Irving is going to face without Doncic. In the old days (a couple of weeks ago), Doncic would’ve been the one getting double teamed at the logo in the closing seconds rather than Irving, who, instead, would’ve had a chance to make the game-winning play himself rather than having to pass out of a trap to Marshall.
Davis, whenever he can get back, will obviously help with this, but Irving is also capable of cooking even double teams when he has it going. He has been phenomenal this season and during his entire time in Dallas, not just on the court but clearly in the locker room.
Nobody can fill Doncic’s shoes, but Irving is capable of carrying an offense, and right now, he’s doing his very best to remind the Mavericks and their fans that there can still be life after Luka.
