Subscribe
Follow Us
Star guard Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks have been rolling as of late, winners of nine of their last ten ball games and currently in position to compete for one of the top six seeds in the conference as the season winds down, which would give them an opportunity to skip the dreaded Play-In game which will take place when the postseason gets underway next month. Irving most recently dazzled fans during the Mavericks' Friday game on the road vs the Sacramento Kings, teaming up with costar Luka Doncic to hit an array of dizzying contested jumpers in the fourth quarter to allow Dallas to knock off the Kings for the second time in a row.
Up next for the Mavericks is a Sunday evening tilt on the road vs the Houston Rockets, who are coached by Ime Udoka. Udoka recently took his pregame press conference as an opportunity to send loft praises in Irving's direction.
“He's the best one on one player I've ever seen, or coached, or been around,” said Udoka, per Shane Young of Forbes Sports on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “It's not a one off. It's not a one game, every other game, it's an every night thing. It's an every practice thing. He does something that wows you… I saw it on a day to day basis (with USA Basketball) and it still makes you shake your head, some of the things he does.”
Indeed, over the course of his career, Irving has established himself as one of the best pound for pound scorers in NBA history.
The history between Irving and Udoka
Ironically enough, Ime Udoka orchestrated the defense that held Kyrie Irving to arguably the most ineffective playoff performance of his career two years ago when Irving's Nets took on Udoka's Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Irving had a breakout Game 1 of that series in front of a sea of booing Boston fans, but for the next three games, the former number one overall pick was wildly inefficient and unable to make much of an impact against a Celtics squad filled with strong defenders and a defensive-minded head coach in Udoka.
Perhaps the only playoff series that rivals that one in terms of Irving ineffectiveness perspective was back in 2019, when Irving was a member of the Celtics vs the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round, which featured an array of mind-numbingly bad shooting splits.
However, all in all, Irving is still obviously an incredibly talented offensive player, something that hasn't diminished in the slightest even as he recently turned 32 years of age. The Mavericks will need all of the offense they can get as the season winds down and the playoffs loom, especially considering that Irving and Doncic both profile as negative defenders, meaning Dallas' best strategy will simply be to outscore the opposition in shootout-style affairs.
In any case, the Mavericks and Rockets are slated to tip off at 7:00 PM ET.
