Stephen A. Smith Blames Luka Doncic For Messing Up Kyrie Irving’s Game

Despite Kyrie Irving‘s magical 35-point performance, the Dallas Mavericks succumbed to a 106-99 loss in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and now trail 0-3. Unfortunately, it appears that the rest of the team was unable to support the guard as they needed to. And now, Stephen A. Smith has even argued that Luka Doncic alone must take the blame for it.

On First Take, Smith claimed the Mavericks superstar should’ve recognized the situation and pushed the game’s tempo to Irving’s liking, rather than playing at the slow pace he usually operates at.

“When you see him in his bag the way he was, you get the ball in his hands. On too many occasions last night, Kyrie Irving would get to his spot or get into the lane, draw fouls, etc., [like] late in the game when he got those three free throws…

He then added that the guard had the hot hand the whole game, and the Slovenian should’ve fed him more, instead of taking ill-advised shots.

Luka would literally take the ball, he would slow the pace, he’s dribbling excessively, and then he’s taking some contested shot that didn’t end up going his way… I saw him disrupt Kyrie’s rhythm.”

.@stephenasmith says Luka was “disrupting Kyrie’s rhythm” in Game 3

“When you see [Kyrie] in his bag the way that he was, you get the ball in his hands.” pic.twitter.com/NP1lYdQOMI

— First Take (@FirstTake) June 13, 2024

Smith is spot on about Doncic’s performance. The Slovenian guard initially matched Irving’s impact in the first quarter, finishing it with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. However, he had a rough second quarter, hitting on only 2 of his 7 shot attempts, while Irving stayed hot and scored 11 of the Mavericks’ 20 points in the period.

Doncic could’ve deferred to his star teammate in the second half, but he continued jacking up contested shots, eventually converting only 4-of-12 attempts before fouling out with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The win condition for the Mavericks was feeding Irving as often as possible, but they steered away from it, costing them the game and potentially the title. And now, what could’ve been yet another Kyrie Irving classic in the Finals will likely be nothing more than a negative footnote in NBA history.

Kyrie Irving was robbed of a historic performance

After averaging only 14 points through the first two games, Kyrie Irving was under pressure to deliver a statement performance in Game 3 to keep the Mavericks’ hopes alive. In response, he scored 20 points in the first quarter, converting on 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc and frustrating the Celtics’ defense consistently.

Irving was seemingly en route to guiding the Mavericks to victory. However, the offense stagnated in the third quarter after they veered away from the fast pace that brought them success.

It affected the veteran guard’s rhythm and he struggled, shooting only 5-of-14 in the second half, with only one three-point attempt, which was a desperation heave in the game’s dying moments. The Mavericks will look back and regret not continuing to play up-tempo like they did in the first quarter, costing Irving an iconic Finals outing.