DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Golden State Warriors 109-99 on Wednesday night. Kyrie Irving led the charge for Dallas, as he fell just two rebounds shy of a triple-double. Still, Irving recorded 23 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds in what was an all-around quality effort. He added a steal and a block for good measure, as the Mavs held a potent Warriors offense to under 100 points, although Golden State was without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
Irving was asked to share his thoughts on how the Mavericks are currently playing. Kyrie sent a blunt message to his team before the second of a back-to-back against the talented Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
“We have more work to do,” Irving said after Wednesday's win. “It's just a mentality, there's more work to do. Just take it one game at a time. Continue to put some quality quarters together and not allow any plays out there to discourage us or get us down emotionally. We know what's at stake here, we don't have to talk about it over and over. Just putting the mission in front of ourselves and working towards that.”
Kyrie Irving led team brand of basketball vs. Warriors
Dallas' offense did not have its best game Wednesday. They were able to shoot 53.7 percent from the field, but posted just a 22.7 three-point shooting percentage against the Warriors. The Mavericks did play a quality brand of team basketball, dishing out 30 total assists.
Kyrie Irving, as mentioned earlier, had 10 of those assists. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic added nine. Irving commented on the Mavs' impressive night in reference to sharing the ball.
“It's about time we played a quality team game,” Irving said, “and eclipse that mark of getting over 30 assists or 30 assists. That's a true sign that the ball had energy. We were all making the right plays and wanted to see each other do well. I'm not saying that we don't have that any other night, but it just felt good to get everybody some points and get out in transition and get some easy ones.”
Dallas searching for consistency
The Mavericks have been streaky over the past few weeks. They previously had a seven-game winning streak before going on a 1-5 stretch. Now the Mavericks will head to Oklahoma City with a four-game winning streak.
The winning streaks are great, but the Mavs need to find consistency and limit their slumps. Dallas is trying to climb the standings in the Western Conference and clinch a top six spot. Accomplishing that goal, however, will be difficult without consistency.
With that being said, Dallas is playing well right now. Kyrie Irving will look to lead the Mavs to a big win over the Thunder on Thursday.
It should be noted that Doncic left Wednesday's game with hamstring soreness. The Mavs will provide an update on his status later on Thursday.
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