SALT LAKE CITY – Kyrie Irving was back on the court with the Mavericks for the first time since Dec. 8, which pretty much made Monday’s New Year’s Night game a success from the start.
A win would have made it even better, but that wasn’t in the cards as the Utah Jazz played tit-for-tat in the blowout department. They clearly remembered the 50-point whipping they endured in Dallas last month and returned the favor with a 127-90 dismantling at the Delta Center.
That would be an 87-point turnaround.
The Jazz led virtually throughout and took charge for good when the Mavericks got within 97-84 with a 13-point blitz that stashed the game away.
It was a great night for the Jazz, who got a triple-double from Jordan Clarkson. The franchise had not had a triple-double since Carlos Boozer in 2008. Clarkson had 20 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. And the crowd erupted when he got his 10th rebound late in the game with the outcome long since decided.
It still was a good night for the Mavericks simply to see Irving back on the court. He finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists. But the numbers didn’t matter as much as his presence.
“I was excited to get back out there,” Irving said. “It was a long time coming the last few weeks just trying to ease my way back into the flow of things. We’ve been playing well. I feel like we’ve dropped some games we could have won. But we’re in a good spot right now.
“I didn’t want to come back and step on anyone’s toes for my first game back. Just wanted to get a good feel going up and down and see how my heel feels and work through the mental side of things of being away from the game.”
Meshing with his teammates, and vice-versa, was clearly a work in progress in Irving’s first game back.
“Kai was good, just to get back in the flow of things,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Sometimes, there’s a natural letdown when a player comes back from injury. And I thought the group was gonna rely on Kai to carry us.
“But give Utah credit, they came out and hit us in the jaw. They were good tonight and we weren’t.”
It was, indeed, an overall clunker of a night for the Mavericks, who got 19 points and 14 rebounds from Luka Dončić.
Irving had missed 12 games with the right heel injury that he suffered at the Dec. 8 game in Portland. The Mavericks went 6-6 in the games Irving missed.
He said the simple things that come with healthy feet were the ones that made the injury so confounding.
“Not being able to put both of my shoes on for 10 days, 12 days,” he said. “It’s an adjustment once you have that kind of injury. It was unique. I wasn’t sure how long I was going to be out. There was no structural damage. But it was achy and you realize the injury is a lot more significant when you can’t get your other shoe on.”
In his return, he looked quick and aggressive in his return. He was crafty to the basket, as always and filled up the stat sheet.
But mostly, he was just happy to be on the court after a three-week hiatus and what was a scary, albeit fluke injury when Dwight Powell accidentally fell on Irving in Portland.
“Oh yeah. I was scared man. I was very scared,” Irving said. “Once I got home, it was a struggle even going to sleep. You could feel the throbbing. I was unsure of the significance of the injury and how long I was going to be out.
“It was a freak accident. It was. Everybody saw it. It was one of those plays that could have gone either way. I could have broken my ankle. I’m just grateful. And it wasn’t Dwight’s fault at all for how the play happened. So I’m glad we could move past it and we can look forward to the future.”
Irving was responsible for giving the Mavericks a flicker of life early in the fourth quarter when he had five consecutive points to get them within 97-84. But that’s when the well went dry for the Mavericks.
“They’re at full speed. We were at half-speed,” Kidd said. “Anytime that happens, you’re not going to have any success. And also, we didn’t shoot the three very well. So our energy was down for pretty much the whole game. It’s a seven-point game (77-70) and we had an opportunity. We just couldn’t get over the hump and they ran away with it.
“The communication with our group was nonexistent tonight and as a coach, I take blame for that. We got to be better.”
Luka had one of his least productive games of the season, but he wasn’t overly frustrated by it. He showered the Jazz with praise.
“They played great defense,” he said. “We should give credit to the Jazz. They played amazing defense.”
While it was difficult to judge in Irving’s first game back, the Mavericks are hoping his return helps reduce what has been a heavy workload for Dončić.
The rotation for Luka was altered slightly in Irving’s first game back. Rather than playing the entire first quarter, which had become routine for Dončić, he came out with about three minutes to go in the opening frame, returning at the eight-minute mark in the second quarter.
Asked about what kind of minutes reduction he would like to see for Luka, Jason Kidd said, perhaps half-joking: “45. Better than 48.”
Turning serious, he said: “I think when you look at it, it helps when you have Kai back and more bodies back that we can look at that rotation we had Luka on at the beginning of the season when we got him out. We’ll talk about that and see where that lands. But if you ask him, he’s fine where he’s at. So we’ll figure it out.”
X: @ESefko
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