DALLAS — Before every game, Kyrie Irving was the first Maverick on the court, his face expressionless, red Beats covering his ears to dull ambient noise with soothing melody.
So synchronized were his mind and body that he predetermined precisely how many minutes he needed to warm up. Sometimes it was 17, or 21, or 23, but he never deviated from his internal timer.
Such was the exacting self-discipline that has characterized Irving-the-player’s 61 days as a Maverick, but he’s acutely aware that it’s the team’s sloppy 9-17 record since his Feb. 7 acquisition from Brooklyn that so far defines Dallas’ dicey Irving Experiment.
