A month ago, the anticipation in Dallas camp was to find a way to integrate Kyrie Irving into the system in such a way that he and the Luka Doncic-led Mavericks could compete for a championship right away.
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They were the 4th best team in the West then. Now, they are competing for the Play-in spot and are at the 11th spot, below a Zion Williamson-less Pelicans and the OKC Thunder.
From the hopes of boasting the best backcourt in the NBA to have two guards having tremendous individual seasons but failing to deliver it together, Mark Cuban must be heartbroken.
Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic have won just 3 out of 10 games together
After their shambolic loss against the Charlotte Hornets, who lacked almost every starter that began their 2022-23 season in October, the Mavericks must be distraught.
The 117-109 loss came while Doncic still had his usual close-to-triple-double night. His 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists came with 2/9 shooting from the three-point line, while Irving’s 18 were the result of a single 3-pointer he converted off his 8 shots.
This bizarre loss has made the duo’s record 3-7 in their 10 games together.
Much like Luka, fans are already NOT having fun.
The man might be pointing at officiating with what he said about not enjoying basketball. But we and the fans are always quick to comprehend something else, aren’t we?
Can the Mavs make a quick turnaround?
With just 8 more games remaining under their belt, let’s see how they try to make a comeback. A winning run even of 4-5 games can give a team with talents like Kyrie and Luka enough momentum to win the first round.
However, after they face the Hornets again on Saturday, they have 6 straight games with the teams that are also trying to compete for a play-in spot in their respective conferences.
Finally, they will then face the Spurs as the last opponent of their 2022-23 regular season campaign. Let’s hope that doesn’t turn out to be the last of what we would get to see from this sensational duo.
