Kyrie Irving's Leadership Felt as Mavs Benefit From 'Real Conversations'
DALLAS — When the Dallas Mavericks took on the Los Angeles Lakers, they were doing so without Luka Doncic in the lineup. Kyrie Irving, who had been sidelined for the Mavs' three previous games, returned from his foot injury to provide a dynamic and stabilizing performance.
Irving appeared as though he hadn't missed any time. He was in a rhythm that enabled him to execute no shortage of challenging plays that required precision. He totaled 38 points, six rebounds, and six assists in 39 minutes.
"I don’t think there’s any extra science or anything,” Irving said regarding his preparation process. “It comes down to being intentional with my reps. Obviously I can sit at home or be on the court and be like, ‘I wish my foot felt as great as it has all season.’ But it’s just not the reality.
“I’m just taking my reps out there on the floor and being efficient with the opportunities that I have. It’s not like this is the first time for me that I’ve ever played with an injury or anything like that. So just keep pushing and keep getting rehab and recovery, and do all that I can to put myself in the best position.”
While Irving is the NBA's leading scorer in fourth quarters, he wasn't the one that played the role of closer taking the final shot when the Mavs faced a two-point deficit with 6.1 seconds remaining in regulation. For a team that has struggled to close out games in recent losses, Irving has seen a need to build trust in those situations.
“I think if you watch over our last – I don’t know how many games, maybe 10 or 12 — we’ve been in almost every game, other than probably just one blowout or two blowouts,” Irving said. “Down the stretch is really where we have to build that trust.
“As well as I’ve been playing in the fourth quarter throughout this season, I just don’t want us to rely just on that. I’m going to show up, but at the same time I just want my teammates to get aggressive as well, and they make my job a lot easier.”
Instead of forcing a shot, Irving leveraged the attention he commanded by dragging a double wide wide on a drive attacking the right side of the floor. Irving's aggressive attack prompted Anthony Davis to gravitate toward the paint despite Maxi Kleber spacing from the weak-side. Irving threw about as accurate of a pass as you'll find to get the ball to Kleber's shooting pocket before a game-winning 3-point attempt.
"I thought about for a split second forcing that two up to tie the basketball game, but I saw Maxi open — I saw AD [Anthony Davis] kind of helping too much," Irving said of the final possession. "I tried to get it into his shot pocket, and I'm glad I got it to him with enough time to at least get the shot off."
Irving's unselfishness was the product of making the right basketball play. Could he potentially have converted a pull-up jumper over two defenders? Perhaps. However, Kleber was left open and Irving trusted his teammate by quickly getting the pass to him.
"Down the stretch is really where we have to build that trust. As well as I've been playing in the fourth quarter throughout this season, I don't want us to rely just on that," Irving said. "I'm going to show up, but at the same time, I just want my teammates to be aggressive as well, and they make my job a lot easier. If I can start off the second half the same way we started off today, just being very aggressive, I feel we put ourselves in a great position every single game we play..."
While the on-court results have shown, there's more that goes into building trust between teammates. What have they done to build trust? Irving credits the Mavs for having some "grownup conversations" that haven't always occurred in his previous NBA stops.
"We had some real conversations, grown-up conversations, mature conversations, that I can honestly say that in my 12 years or 11 years, on every team, we haven't had those direct conversations sometimes..."
Kleber's biggest high on the basketball court occurred one game after some lows. He had some pivotal late-game mistakes between committing a late shooting foul and turning it over on an inbounds pass in Wednesday's matchup against the San Antonio Spurs that ended up forcing the Mavs to go to overtime before managing to achieve a win. Irving described Kleber's turnaround in late-game success as redemption.
“Kai is a true believer in energy and connection,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “Maxi took it hard that in San Antonio that he could have just thrown it in and we wouldn’t had to go into overtime. He felt like he let his teammates down.
“His teammates picked him up, and then again the trust (Friday) to come to him with the game-winner. That just shows how special those guys are in that locker room. Kai says it best: Redemption is a beautiful thing.”
Irving proved to be a consistent, stabilizing presence the Mavs needed without Doncic to control the game. Early in games, Irving has often played within the floor of the offense by advancing the ball and trusting his teammates to make plays. As the game winds down, Irving takes over with a calming presence to control the game.
"He's very experienced, very calm, you know, he knows how to talk to people, where to set up people, sees the strength in players, and knows what he expects them to do," Kleber said of Irving in late-game situations. "So that helps, really a lot..."
"He has always positive spirits, uplifting words, and all that. I'm very appreciative to be able to play with him. I learn a lot from just like his body language, the way he interacts with his teammates, and just a great character guy."
It's not uncommon for the presence of an elite player to raise the standard for the rest of a team. Whether it's by having those honest conversations with one another, or in leadership by example, the value has been seen during Irving's time with the Mavs.
A clear example occurs on a typical night that Irving is available to play. He shows up to workout on the court 2 1/2 to 3 hours before games and works on many variables of his repertoire, both as a shot creator and finisher. He's known for working on his game when the bright lights aren't shining, which sets the tone for a team. It doesn't hurt that Irving has championship experience as one of the superstars on a team, either.
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