The Mavericks pulled off a strong 115-121 win against the Rockets, the league’s best defensive team heading into tonight. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving dominated the second half to help the Mavs close this win out.
This win led to Jason Kidd aggressively defending his star duo after being asked about their success this season, storming out of the post-game press conference after requesting ESPN’s Tim MacMahon to ‘write some positive sh*t’ about their success.
“Maybe it’s the things that you thought would happen day one, that they should be successful right off the bat. It takes time. Failing is alright. It’s not a bad thing to fail for an athlete because you better learn from it, and those two are the best in the world and we feel very comfortable with them having the ball. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t, but we learn from it. As you mentioned, they’re one of the best duos in clutch time. It was something you guys wanted to make a big deal of last year, but not making a big deal about it this year because things are going good. So, write some positive sh*t. I’m giving you a f***ing answer. It’s okay to write positive stuff, people will read your positive sh*t. You don’t always have to be negative. Let’s see some positive stuff on positive people who are doing their jobs on a nightly basis. We’re only into this year, we can’t go back to last year. That’s the f***ing problem. Have a good night.”
Jason Kidd just back-and-forth with Tim MacMahon….
“Write some positive shit” pic.twitter.com/iKP3YGoYp8
— Landon Thomas (@sixfivelando) November 29, 2023
Kidd clearly feels a certain type of way about how the Mavericks have been treated by the media since the Kyrie Irving trade last season. The Doncic and Irving duo have been pegged to fail by many, with a lot of pre-season predictions expecting them to miss out on the playoffs due to the duo’s struggles last season.
Doncic had one of his best games of the season tonight, dropping 41 points with nine rebounds and nine assists with zero turnovers. He also hit an incredible skyhook for the game-clinching shot.
LUKA MAGIC FINDS A WAY 😱 https://t.co/nmv0sru0pE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 29, 2023
Irving overcame a very slow start to the game by taking over the second half and ending the night with 27 points. His fourth-quarter play was crucial for Dallas this game, even though the first three quarters were poor.
Are The Mavericks Going To Sustain Their Success?
This was a crucial win for the Mavericks, who had started dropping games after an 8-2 start to the season. This win improves their record to 11-6 and helps them keep pace with the top teams in the Conference such as the Wolves, Nuggets, and Suns so far this season. They’re tied with OKC for the fourth seed right now with identical records. Consistently winning games is crucial to any hopes of a top-six seed in this competitive Western Conference.
Doncic and Irving have been a great duo this season, with their fourth-quarter performances standing out. The Mavericks have only two clutch losses so far this season, though it could’ve easily been three when they almost blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead against the Lakers. Ultimately, it was a clutch three from Kyrie that made sure the Mavs got that win.
Kidd has good reason to be positive about his squad and wants others to spread that positivity. But the Mavs are in the same group as other contenders in the NBA where people will not be blown away by what they do unless they massively overachieve.
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