Amid national talk-show speculation that the Mavericks need to shut down their two superstars and make keeping their top-10 protected draft choice the No. 1 priority, onlookers forget one key thing.
Whatever players compete for the Mavericks, they’re going to go all out to sweep the final three games of the regular season and give themselves a chance to make the play-in tournament.
That includes Kyrie Irving, assuming the Mavericks keep playing him and Luka Dončić in the final three games as long as there is any chance of making the play-in tournament.
Irving said after the 132-130 overtime loss in Atlanta on Sunday that closed out a lousy 1-4 trip eastward that he’s feeling better and better every day after a right foot problem hindered him in mid-March.
The 41 points he had against the Hawks were proof. And over the last four games, Irving has hit 56.9 percent of his shots and averaged 25.8 points.
If the Mavericks could figure out how to extend their season, it seems like Irving is playing his best basketball since joining the team at the most opportune time.
Allow him to explain why.
“Every game’s pretty much been our backs-against-the-wall mentality, playing with a sense of desperation,” Irving said. “I’m one of the best scorers in the world, so it’s pretty easy for me to go into my toolbox and be efficient, especially when I’m feeling good and getting healthier every single game.”
It’s that last line that should give Mavericks’ fans reason to keep hope alive in the final week. The Oklahoma City Thunder have a tougher schedule and need two wins to clinch the No. 10 spot in the Western Conference (or any combination of two wins or Mavs’ losses).
If Irving is rolling, it wouldn’t take too much imagination to see the Mavericks getting hot at the right time and salvaging this season with a playoff appearance.
“I wish that was the case a few games ago where I was able to shoot a little better and help out the team a little more,” Irving said of how the injury impacted him when he missed four games and was less-impactful when he did try to play.
“The last few games, we’ve fallen short. I take a lot of that pressure on myself, a lot of that responsibility, because I feel like I definitely could have played better. And nights like this (the 41-point outburst) over the last few months have come easy. But with this ailing foot injury, it’s taken me a little longer to get back in the flow. When you’re playing with an injury, you just do the best you can. My teammates know that and the organization knows that.”
The good news is that Irving seems to be in better form and it’s good for the Mavericks and fans to see that form.
Here’s a couple other takeaways from the loss at Atlanta:
SURPRISE CALL: The Mavericks got some great support on Sunday from JaVale McGee, who admitted he was a bit surprised by his 23 minutes of action against the Hawks, which he turned into 11 points (on 5-of-6 shooting) and six rebounds. The Mavericks were plus-13 when the 7-foot McGee was on the floor. “I didn’t know I was going to play, so when I got in, I just wanted to do what I do, which is run the floor and blocking shots, deter the ball from getting to the rim on defense,” he said. McGee felt bad after he missed the first of two free throws with under a second remaining. Had he made them, the Mavericks would have won in regulation. He made the second to force overtime. But that didn’t mask how impactful McGee (and Christian Wood, too) were as the best Mavericks’ big men on the court Sunday. “The paint was crowded when they were in the game,” Irving said. “It made the guards on the other team, Dejounte (Murray) and Trae (Young), think twice about going in. We were just playing good on-ball defense. I feel like if we play that way every single night with that defensive focus, we can win more ballgames.”
FREE FOR THE TAKING: The Mavericks got the free-throw line 32 times, 10 more trips to the stripe than Atlanta made. But the Mavericks made only 22 of their chances. Atlanta was 18-of-22. The Mavericks gave away too many points at the line. “I thought we fought, put ourselves in position to win the game,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We didn’t shoot the free throw extremely well, we missed 10 of them. We didn’t shoot the three early. We had tired bodies out there.” All those things factored into the loss. But the fact that Young made two free throws with 1.8 seconds left in overtime to win it could not be overlooked.
Twitter: @ESefko
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