Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving went 1-4 in the Mavericks’ last five games before facing the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night. This obviously has the 2023 All-Star duo in as high a criticism as the former Nets man can take.
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It’s not been even a month since his trade request and the move to Dallas, and none among the media experts, who believed the Mavericks instantly became a contender after landing Kyrie, have the same beliefs.
The reason being most of the games they lost in the stretch have been because of both these players’ personal mistakes which can only increase come Playoff time. Charles Barkley thinks it’s a problem as both these players are just good 1-on-1 players.
Charles Barkley figures out the Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving problem
As basketball fans, we always depend on Chuck’s expert opinion to form our own, don’t we? Well, the Round Mound of Rebounds has spoken up about the Mavs duo and their concerning match-up.
On a serious note, The Chuckster thinks it is because they do not play defense and don’t gather the boards and their problem is that, “they are both great one-on-one basketball players.”
The TNT analyst went on length about the duo on Inside the NBA’s latest show.
How accurate is Chuck’s analogy this time?
Actually, the issue with Doncic and Irving is that they are great 1v1 players who can destroy any greats on the hardwood in their heyday, and still not get their team a victory.
Often, their defense can be pathetic and make life difficult for their teammates who might give it their all on a nightly basis just to see their team lose a game because of a Luka or a Kyrie mistake.
However, as far as the rebounds are concerned, Luka is averaging close to 9 rebounds per game whereas Irving averages over five. Combining both of them, 14 rebounds a game is a decent number for a backcourt.
Chuck always undermines his image as an expert, not just because of his poor homework but also because of his big mouth.
