The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Washington Wizards 112-104 on Monday night. Dallas had an inconsistent start to the game, and Luka Doncic's injury scare in the third quarter didn't help matters.
Luka was already dealing with a broken nose and also injured his chin against Washington. The Mavs star ended up returning to the game despite having stitches and multiple injuries. Luka, who still managed to play over 37 minutes, led the Mavericks to the victory in the fourth quarter and finished the game with an impressive 26-point, 15-assist, 11-rebound triple-double.
Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd provided an injury update on Doncic after the game.
“Yeah, he will be fine,” Kidd said. “The stitches and the nose, he's rolling with the face right now. I don't know if he's going to wear a mask. We're a physical team, the Mavs, we're physical. All the cuts and broken noses that we have, you should see the other guys. The physicality is right now taking a couple hits, he got stitches. But he will be fine.”
Doncic receives some backlash at times for arguing with referees. In the end, Luka is just an extremely competitive player who will do anything it takes to earn a win. I asked Jason Kidd about Luka Doncic's toughness, and he got brutally honest on the 24-year-old superstar.
Kidd on Doncic: “He's not soft”
“He's not soft,” Kidd said. “That's for sure. He's one of the toughest kids that I've had the opportunity to coach. And he's not scared of a fight. You look at his toughness, he's playing with a broken nose. Never complains. Loves the competition and found a way after getting stitches to help the team win tonight.”
Kyrie Irving also turned in a tremendous performance on Monday. Irving added 26 points of his own to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Irving and Doncic have continued to build chemistry. They are seemingly developing a lot of respect for one another.
Kyrie addressed what Doncic's willingness to return from the injury scare in the game meant to the Mavs.
Kyrie Irving addresses Luka Doncic's crucial impact on Mavs
“It just eases a lot of the pressure,” Irving said. “When you have somebody that's commanding double-teams all the time, you're able to space out on the weak side and get some open looks or play four-on-three basketball or three-on-two basketball… advantage basketball. It just puts us in a good rhythm. We can trust those shots down the stretch, we can rely on those shots down the stretch when we're wide open getting corner threes, wing threes.
“Or you see Maxi driving, and you see me driving and Josh driving. We just gotta be ready to play off the basketball when Luka gets doubled. He's doing a good job of accepting the double-teams even though we know he wants to get buckets and go at everybody. So we allow those positions as teammates but we also know we gotta help him out and be aggressive ourselves in order to get a great team win.”
Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic have emerged as one of the best duos in the NBA. After the trade last year, developing the necessary amount of chemistry not just with one another, but with the entire team was difficult. Bringing in a new superstar in the middle of a season is exciting, but players still need time to learn how to find success together.
This season, Irving was able to place his focus on the Mavericks from the start. He has dealt with some injury concerns, but it is clear that Kyrie has looked much more comfortable in Dallas so far during the 2023-24 season.
With Luka and Kyrie continuing to lead the way and Dallas' role players also stepping up, this Mavericks team has a chance to make a run in the Western Conference.
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