The Dallas Mavericks cruised to victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on Friday night, setting up a second-round matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kyrie Irving was spectacular for the Mavs down the stretch in this one, and his electric second half performance drew quite a reaction from his former teammate LeBron James.

Irving started off slow in this one, as he scored just two points in the first half, which is largely why the game was tied heading into halftime. But then Irving took control over the ensuing 24 minutes to make the game rather anticlimatic, and it was clear that James was enjoying Irving's huge performance based on this tweet from him.

Via LeBron James:

“KY STOP IT!!!!! OMG 😤😤😤😤😤”

LeBron James was fired up by Kyrie Irving's big Game 6 outing

Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving (11) shoots the ball over LA Clippers guard Norman Powell (24) during the third quarter during game six of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center.
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

James and the Los Angeles Lakers crashed out of the playoffs at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in their first-round series, but he's obviously going to tune in and see how the rest of the action unfolds. And while he may not exactly have a rooting interest, he's probably hoping to see his former running mate in Irving excel given their ties.

Irving and James teamed up together on the Cleveland Cavaliers for three seasons, making it to the Finals each year, and winning a title together in 2016. And while their time together came to a bit of a rocky end, with Irving requesting a trade off of the Cavs, the two are still close friends, with Irving even trying to force a trade to the Lakers so that he could team back up with LeBron over the past two offseasons.

Instead, Kyrie has found a home in Dallas' backcourt alongside Luka Doncic, and they have made it to the second round of the playoffs after they defeated the undermanned Clippers in six games. While Dallas certainly could have won this series either way, it didn't exactly hurt that Kawhi Leonard managed to play in just two games due to right knee inflammation (even though the Mavs ironically won both of the games he played in.)

The Mavericks will surely be hoping that Irving can play like he did in the second half of Game 6 throughout their upcoming series with the Thunder, because they have a tall task on their hands. While OKC is a young team, they have a ton of talent, which was on full display when they swept the New Orleans Pelicans out of the playoffs in their first-round series.

Conversely, they will now have a much more difficult challenge on their hands when it comes to slowing Irving, Doncic, and company in the second round. And while he likely won't come out and say it, chances are James will be rooting for Irving and the Mavs in this series. So if Kyrie has another big game down the line, it wouldn't be much of a surprise to see another big reaction from LeBron like the one we saw here.