Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Speaks After Win vs. Pelicans: Jan. 15, 2024

Mavs’ Kyrie Irving Speaks After Win vs. Pelicans: Jan. 15, 2024

What do you think about what you’ve seen from Recently uh he’s having an incredible stretch right now um making a lot of the right reads taking some tough shots for sure um but uh I think he’s right in his wheelhouse of allowing the work to translate into success on the court

Finding some consistency there obviously we had some guys out so aggressiveness and him being a starting lineup um creates more opportunities for a lot of us and I think you see him you’re see you’re watching him create a lot of opportunities for himself and be highly

Efficient at it so happy for him and want him to keep it up um you know playing good basketball right now you guys are halfway through the year and all the injuries you and Luke have only been able to play 20 games together obviously got other key guys

Who have been in and out how do you kind of evaluate the the first half of the season so far and and where this team is now where this team can go uh I mean that’s that’s a very interesting question I think that’s way

Bu my pay grade in terms of I need some guys up here to to help me discuss that because I’m I’m really just focused on being as healthy as I can be game to game and and being prepared to play but um in terms of a personal evaluation uh

I don’t dive too deep into it uh you know it’s the early portion or halfway portion of of the Season uh we’re not even an All-Star break yet so um you know you never know if um you know things could change over the next few weeks or the next few months

And um you know that that’s not talking about any trades or anything like that or or foreshadow anything like that it’s just changes in lineups changes in dynamics of our team and testing out um you new strategies where uh we can find that consistency on both ends of the

Floor and we have guys that are playing those those quality minutes and our IQ level as a basketball team is uh helping us or propelling US to wins instead of us using our talent and overcoring teams I think if we’re smarter uh throughout the second half of the season and and we

Play well possession to possession game and um you know and it just allow each other to grow into these roles that we have uh had set even for the last few games and even for since the start of the season so I’m just allowing this thing to grow without putting too much

Pressure on myself or my teammates um but obviously there’s a um you know there’s a there’s a fire inside all of us we want to win every game um and I think that’s what that’s what’s helping us right now even as guys get healthy so I think we’ll have

Another evaluation in the next 20 games or so but right now just it’s good not to think too deep into it and and really take a game by game what did you say to Derek livley in his first game back you said what what Derek livley in his first

Game back yeah no he just need reps he just needs reps he’s um you know coming off a college season where he’s only played 30 games or 30 some OD games and he’s coming into the man’s League where uh you know night toight uh people are getting ready to play against him scheme

For him know that he’s uh going to be a huge factor in the game and and they and they try to stop him but I think uh if he’s able to find Opportunities hitting offensive glass and continue to set good screens and we find him on certain roles

Like I got to get him a l earlier in the game just to make sure he stays engaged and he stays active um and that’s just my job as a PG I can make his life a lot easier out there and especially coming back from injury um just don’t want to

Put too much pressure on him on on him um but I know he’s going to do that himself so um when he brings that edge helps out our team so just want to keep helping him and speaking of Derek he’s connected with you quite a few times

This season when you’ve been top locked and then you’ve cut you know with the to counter with the defens is yeah what do you like about his uh playmaking MH yeah know his playmaking is is definitely improving game to game and I think we’re getting used to playing on the same

Court together where um I don’t necessarily have to come off all those dribble handoffs he can really utilize me as a screener or as a back door threat and um just reading multiple options out of the out of the uh um defensive schemes that the other teams

Are putting against us you know that’s that’s the key right now is is being able to play um not the first action but probably the third or fourth so we can get a great shot you guys I think about 23 different starting lineups this season you got

Guys in and out you haven’t practiced a ton how do you I guess try and build chemistry on the fly when guys are in and out like that it’s different looks feels like every game yeah you just do your best you just do your best as a

Professional to come prepared and uh be ready to play the role that the coaches are asking you to play how can you guys keep your momentum going into this upcoming road trip uh by not getting to ahead of ourselves and being satisfied uh with this win against the New Orleans

Pelicans um you know I feel like every time we take our foot off the gas pedal and we start H you know hi and Hing and and celebrating wins like this then next game we kind of drop a dud I don’t I don’t want to have that happen and I

Don’t want to say even if that does happen in the next game I don’t want to say I I I planned it it’s just you know I want to find that consistency I know uh my teammates the coaching staff our management want to find that consistency as well and that’s what the healthy

Challenges every day is waking up preparing as best you can and then going out there and trying to play your best game and living with the results outside of you know the victory what is the importance of today and you playing for the day man well today was

Is definitely um about bigger things than just the game of basketball um you know want to give a huge Shout shout out and uh send my love and incredible energy to the king family um and to everybody part of that lineage everybody part of that Revolution uh everybody

Part of that movement um that he was leading um you know he’s he’s definitely missed in today’s world um his words are are still reigning true um throughout um you know time and I think we’ve seen it over and over again um that his dream was not just supposed to

Be a dream it was supposed to be manifested materialize into a reality that we can all coexist in um you know and I think Martin Luther King Jr stood for more than just racial or social issues he he stood for the character and the content of someone’s heart and their

Integrity and um he was far from perfect and I think that’s what makes him one of the most beautiful human beings I’ve ever read about and and focused on um because he accepted that U you know he was going to make mistakes but he was

Willing to risk his life for a lot of us to at least feel liberated um in a society like this that we’re growing up in or or we have to survive in so um you know again I want to give a huge shout out to Martin Luther King

Junior and his family and everything he’s done for all Races and all walks of life um you know he really brought a lot of people together and I’m happy to be part of that that ancestral history

Dallas Mavericks superstar Kyrie Irving spoke to reporters after the victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 15, 2024.

X: https://twitter.com/GrantAfseth
Facebook: https://facebook.com/GrantGAfseth
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GrantAfseth
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/grantafseth

Check out my full Dallas Mavericks coverage on https://DallasBasketball.com for daily updates, analysis, and exclusive interviews. Check out my NBA work on https://NBAAnalysis.net.

Be sure to download the ‘Inside The Mavs’ podcast on iHeart Radio — the official Mavericks podcast of 97.1 The Freak by clicking the link here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inside-the-mavs/id1687581495