When Luka Dončić split defenders with scant seconds remaining in Sunday’s match against Houston, he could have forced a shot that, given his track record for dramatic, game-swaying moments, might have been a good attempt to try to send the game into overtime.
Instead, he passed to Dante Exum on the right wing.
A flick of the wrist and a swish later, the Mavericks were headed to overtime, where they would beat the Rockets 147-136 in one of the most memorable regular-season games ever at American Airlines Center.
The play was risky, but what isn’t on a basketball court when the game is on the line?
It turned out to be a winning play.
So what did it look like from Kyrie Irving’s perspective? And bear in mind that Irving was on his way to a massive 48-point showing, his best scoring game as a Maverick.
“As a basketball junkie, I’ve seen a lot of situations, been in a part of a lot of situations,” Irving said. “Sometimes, it goes well when you give the ball up in a situation like that. Sometimes it doesn’t.
“But the trust has to be there and the confidence and the energy of the basketball has to flow into your teammate. It’s not about the make or miss. It’s about the fundamentals that Dante exuded when he needed to make the shot. Balance, shot-ready, was ready for the moment. Let’s give him credit. Let’s give Luka credit because everybody did their job necessary for that play to work.”
It worked. If it hadn’t, the postgame celebration would have never happened. And what a heartfelt moment it was. Irving and Dončić had their arms draped around each other’s shoulders. The players hugged. After three games in three and a half days after an 11-day trip, they were exhausted.
But it was worth it.
“As a competitor, you’re so emotional,” said Irving, who hit 15-of-25 shots and 15-of-17 free throws to create his gem. “You’re putting blood, sweat and tears into it. When you’re a competitor out there. And you see your teammates going to battle. We were dog-tired after that buzzer. An embrace after that is important.
“We all know the sacrifice is worth it. Luka was like, I’m tired. He left it all out there and did all he could. That (postgame hug) was one of those in-the-moment things for us as brothers to embrace each other. We know how hard we’ve worked. There’s still nothing guaranteed in terms of our seeding. But we know what it feels like to be on this side now together as a duo.”
And they are in this position of being on the lip of the cup of clinching a top-six playoff berth that they can almost taste largely because of Irving.
Jason Kidd put it in perspective when asked what Irving has been doing of late to make himself and the team so successful.
“Everything we expected him to do,” Kidd said. “He’s one of the best players in the world. The vibe is good. He’s making the game easy for Luka and the other (guys) on the floor.”
And when he scored 25 points in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Rockets, it was another instance of Kyrie Magic.
“It’s an exciting feeling,” he said. “When the ball’s in my hands and I don’t see anybody coming to double, it’s my time to be aggressive. My teammates kept putting the ball in my hands. I had the matchup. And I had some easy ones go for me. But it was a total team effort really. We left it all on the court. You could feel it.”
Here’s our other takeaways from the Mavericks’ 14th win in their last 16 games:
Holding onto the ball: It was a good news/bad news situation for the Mavericks when it came to keeping possession of the basketball. They were outstanding when it came to rebounding against the Rockets, clobbering them 47-32 on the glass. The Mavericks improved to 21-7 when they outrebound their opponent this season. The bad news is that they had 17 turnovers and the eight of them they had in the first quarter were a big reason why the Rockets were ahead 42-27 after 12 minutes. When the Mavericks started holding onto the ball (nine turnovers in the final three quarters), they were hard to stop, scoring 102 points in the final three quarters and 18 more in overtime.
Staying the course: The Mavericks trailed 61-39 at the midpoint of the second quarter. It would have been easy to kiss this game goodbye. But they didn’t. “The beauty of that locker room, no one caved,” Kidd said. “No one let go of the rope. No one quit. We just kept working. The hard work and trust paid off and it just continues to get stronger.”
Fourth quarter D: The Mavericks limited Houston to 23 points in the fourth quarter and just six in overtime. That’s eight of the last 10 opponents that have been held to 24 points or fewer in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks are 9-1 in those games.
Western Conference playoff update (Through Sunday’s games)
Team (seed) Record Games left (H-R)
*Minnesota (1) 54-24……….3-1
Denver (2) 54-24……..….1-3
Oklahoma City (3) 53-25……….4-0
LA Clippers (4) 50-28…….….3-1
Dallas (5) 48-30……..….1-3
*Phoenix (6) 46-32..……..1-3
——————–
New Orleans (7) 46-32……….1-3
Sacramento (8) 45-33………..3-1
LA Lakers (9) 45-34……….1-2
Golden State (10) 43-35…….…2-2
*–Owns tiebreaker via head-to-head wins.
X: @ESefko
Share and comment