Kyrie Irving made his home debut with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, but his team suffered its second straight defeat after losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves (124-121).
Irving went for 36 points in the game, with 26 of them coming in the fourth quarter, on 11/12 shooting. Meanwhile, Doncic had 33 points for Dallas, which erased a 26-point deficit (89-63), but came up short in the final play.
“I’ve got to get a shot up, if anything, or allow Luca to have some space to get a shot and not turn the ball over in that situation,” Kyrie Irving said of the closing seconds afterwards.
“So it’s on me, just be smart in those situations. But if you look at the overall game, you know, I’m just grateful we were even in that position.”
As for what happens in the offseason, the eight-time All-Star guard has no willingness to share his thoughts and is focusing only on Dallas’ title chase.
“I’ve dealt with it before and it’s very emotionally draining to ask questions about what’s the long term. What the future holds is really only going to be dictated on what I do right now, and how I prepare for those next steps, and that’s being the best teammate that I can in that locker room and a great leader out here, I think within the Dallas community.
So we’re just putting that to bed and just focus on what we have ahead as a team. I would love to just have the respect of you guys and everybody the rest of the season of just continuously asking me that because it just puts unwarranted distractions on us and our team,” Kyrie Irving noted.
The Mavs are just 0.5 games behind fourth-placed Phoenix Suns and two games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers (28-29), who hold the 11th place – the first spot left out of the postseason.
On Wednesday, Kyrie Irving and the Mavs travel to Denver to take on the Nuggets, who hold the best record in the West (40-18).
Kyrie Irving doesn't want to talk about the future: "I would love to just have the respect of you guys and everybody the rest of the season of just continuously asking me that because it just puts unwarranted distractions on us and our team." pic.twitter.com/O1J9Sm13PK
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) February 14, 2023
