So this Kyrie Irving thing in Dallas doesn’t seem like it’s going too well, does it?
While everyone was rightfully watching the utter chaos ensuing in the men’s NCAA tournament on Saturday, Dallas had what is absolutely its worse loss of the season to this point in a downright embarrassing showing against the Charlotte Hornets.
Dennis Smith Jr. hit a dagger 3-pointer in Irving’s face to essentially slam the door shut on a comeback win for the Mavs.
It’s not just the fact that this loss came from one of the worst teams in the league. But it also knocked the Mavs down to 36-38, which takes them out of range for the play-in tournament. The Mavs are now 7-12 since trading for Irving and 6-8 when he’s on the court. And this moment might just send the team spiraling.
oh dear. Dennis Smith Jr. stabs his old team with a dagger 3 that may have catastrophic playoff implications for the Mavericks.https://t.co/lD4gc2L4JI pic.twitter.com/tzO195tPdc
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 25, 2023
That’s…not good. And when you’ve got two talents like Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving? Not only is it not good — it’s embarrassing. Super embarrassing.
It got so bad that Mavs fans actually booed the team during the game. Irving was asked about the boos and his answer, uh, well…it wasn’t great.
"So what? Just the way I feel about it. I've been in New York City, so I know what that's like. You obviously want to play well, but you know, there's only five people on the court that can play for the Dallas Mavericks…"
"Our focus isn't necessarily on pic.twitter.com/K7YIX0S7xg…
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 25, 2023
“So what?…You obviously want to play well, but it’s only five people on the court that can play for Dallas Mavericks. If the fans want to change places, then hey, be my guest. Got years of work ahead to be great enough to be on this level. But our focus isn’t necessarily on the boos, it should be on the performance.”
You can sort of see where Irving is trying to go with this. Trying to brush the boos off is fine. But taking this sort of shot at fans when you’ve only been there for a little over a month probably isn’t a great move.
It’s just pure chaos in Dallas right now. Kyrie is beefing with the fans now, I guess. Luka Doncic seems sad. Jason Kidd doesn’t have any answers. It’s all bad.
Nets fans are loving this, though, I’m sure.
