Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving Extend West-Leading Win Streak; Mavs Eye 5th Seed After All-Star Break
The Dallas Mavericks are riding high heading into a much-needed All-Star break after capping off a 38-point turnaround in Wednesday's 116-93 win over the San Antonio Spurs. With the win, the Mavs' win streak is pushed to six games, which is currently the best mark in the Western Conference.
“Proud of our guys that we’re making incremental progress," Kyrie Irving said after the win. "It’s about us and everyone that’s in that locker room and continuing to get that work in on off days, and doing the little things to be prepared to play whatever amount of minutes that coach asks you too. I think once we matured in that sense of being able to lock into our roles, you’re seeing some highly successful basketball being played.”
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Not only have the Mavs continued to win games while integrating newcomers P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford into their system, but they've also raised their level of defensive play across the board. If that continues after All-Star Weekend, the Mavs will have no trouble climbing up the Western Conference standings in their final 27 games.
“I think that the key word is ‘team.' I think we’re coming together; we’re starting to get healthy, that’s going to be a little bit of a change — because we’re not used to being healthy," Jason Kidd said. "So, minutes won’t be as high, so guys have to make that adjustment, but our depth should be one of our weapons. Also, our pace, being able to play fast, that’s something that we talked about in the beginning of the year.
"We’ve been limited due to bodies but now that we’re getting healthy, I think we can play fast, and I think that will help our defense. It should be an exciting second half [of the season].”
On today's episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we recap the Mavs' blowout win over the Spurs while specifically talking about Irving's insane acrobatic layup over Wembanyama, the return of Dereck Lively II, P.J. Washington's incredibly effective defense, Dallas’ important stretch following All-Star Weekend and much, much more!
You can listen to the entire show below, and be sure to hit "SUBSCRIBE" if you haven't already! Send us your Mavs takes in our YouTube video comments below as well. We want to hear from you!
