'It's Personal'... Kyrie Irving Airs Out on Budding Mavericks-Thunder Rivalry

Dallas-OKC is becoming one of the best rivalries in the NBA.

Jan 17, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) drives to the basket past Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

In a fiery contest, the Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night 106-98. This game saw five technical fouls (including a flopping call on Lu Dort), a flagrant foul on P.J. Washington, and plenty of back-and-forth banter from both teams. A lot of this stems back to the 2024 playoffs when Dallas beat the top-seeded Thunder in the second round in six games, but this is becoming one of the best rivalries in the NBA, and Kyrie Irving had an up-close view of all of it.

Irving returned on Friday night after missing six of the last seven games with a back issue and had a great game: 25 points, five rebounds, and five assists. He's also been a part of a few different rivalries in his career and sees this as a major one.

READ MORE: 3 Takeaways From Mavericks' Massive Short-Handed Win Over OKC Thunder

"It’s personal. I think it’s the start of a healthy rivalry," Irving said in Friday's postgame press conference. "We’re gonna be seeing them a lot over the next few years so it’s good that you set the precedent now what it’s gonna be like... When the pushing and shoving occurs, that’s just good competitive NBA basketball that we feel is only right at this point because we gotta protect ourselves. Somebody comes into the middle of the circle, starts pushing, you know it’s gonna lead to everybody protecting themselves. It’s good. It’s healthy.”

There was definitely some pushing and shoving in this game, but as long as no fights break out, Irving is right: this is a healthy rivalry, something the NBA needs as yesteryear's stars begin to fade out. These two teams will likely see each other a lot in the playoffs over the next few years.

They also play again in less than a week, as the Mavericks will travel to OKC for the final game of the series this season on the 23rd. It'll be on the second night of a back-to-back for Dallas, as it was for OKC this time around. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could be back for that game, as could Dereck Lively II. Luka Doncic will not be, but Dallas has already proved they can beat OKC without Doncic.

READ MORE: Former Rookie of the Year Linked to Mavericks in Trade Rumors

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