Mavs Postgame vs. Spurs (HD): Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, Jason Kidd

Mavs Postgame vs. Spurs (HD): Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, Jason Kidd

Back’s going roll yeah daughter’s into tennis hey who knows what could happen out of that yeah try questions what’s it what’s it like to to try to find ways to finish over you said what is it like yeah yeah uh I mean for me personally uh for my

Perspective you know I remember the first game of the season he was uh you know his entry to the league he blocked my shot I don’t mind that you know what I’m saying uh right side of History um but yeah he he’s just a force down there and

Um he he has great timing you can tell he um really studies the game well and on defensive in you know there not much that he can do uh so for him to um or for me to get the best of him on that one possession it felt good but um you

Know moving in the future I don’t know how many more I can get off on him just because of how much ground he covers but it was an exciting play I’m grateful I converted it you actually had a few finishes over him and you know with him

Or any elite shot blocker what what’s kind of the decision- making process for you as far as how to finish uh the first thing is no fear uh once you step in that paint U you take off uh especially off of one foot or off of two feet you

Want to safely land um be aware of the contact know how strong The Bigs are um before you attack and even if there’s a guard down there that’s a good Defender too um it it’s just a limit their athletic ability I have to be crafty around the

Rim sometimes I could finish over guys but a lot of them are um you know trying to block shots when I get close to the rim so I like to play in that in between area between you know like 16 ft to like 1T you know and and uh be uh very

Efficient down there so when I see bigs in front of me I feel like I have an advantage uh when I can use the rim as protection and uh I know that I can convert it at a high rate so that’s what I’m thinking when I go to the Lane just

Be creative be imaginative um but also go to finish uh I had a lot of coaches growing up um you know when I was playing on their teams and and they didn’t really like or appreciate some of my creativity in the air until I made my

Layups at a very high efficient rate so I I don’t blame them again um but a lot of practice I’ve been working on these finishes since about 7th e8th grade is that the rod Strickland influence that is Dr Irving influence um with my uncle R being my godfather and

Um you know exemplifying greatness for 17 years in his own way uh playing in the NBA and uh I didn’t get a chance to work out with him uh when I was growing up it was mainly just me and my dad uh but I got as I got older uh I started

Appreciating his journey a lot more um you know and he played 17 years in the NBA that’s no small feat so I’m really proud of him I’m I’m happy uh that I have a mentor in my life such as him that I can call on any single anytime um

And he gives me a ton of advice especially finish around those bigs uh which I appreciate you found a major rhythm in the second quarter and for the remainder of the game was there anything that you saw or anything in particular yeah no we had to get it going man we

Had to get it going um we had to manufacture the energy to be able to get the lead uh at least going into halftime and we knew playing from behind against this team uh you know we we don’t want to leave it up to that we we wanted to

Put our foot on the gas pedal get out and on the break get some easy uh trans position points and let everybody touch the ball feel good about it have a good Rhythm um and then you know most importantly just lock down on defense we we started uh paying attention to our

Game plan in that second quarter a little bit more I know Sweeney and J kid were happy about that but we got to demand that our out of ourselves in the beginning of the game but even if it doesn’t happen we still got to have that

Resilience and be able to battle back I feel like you I’ve seen a little more uh you and Luca two main game over the past few games what what have you liked from that what what what’s been working and and you know is that going to continue trending Direction yeah easy pickings

You know easy pickings once we we get into that one three pick and roll or 31 pick and roll or one whatever you want to call it um it’s a high efficient play for us and when I’m making a decision on the back end or he’s making decision on

The back end that’s a successful play for our team but uh you guys are getting healthier you won six in a row running and going into the break on a nice roll how do you feel about the just the uptick you’ve seen out of this team in

The last you know couple weeks uh proud of our guys that we’re making incremental progress and uh it’s about us and everybody that’s in that locker room and uh staying focused and continuing to get our work in on off days and and do the little things to be

Prepared to to play um whatever amount of minutes that coach asked you to so I think once we’ve matured in that sense of of being able to lock into our roles then you’re seeing uh some highle basketball High highly successful basketball being played D mentioned his excitement going into his first Allstar

Week and any advice for in that area yeah enjoy it uh I remember my first in Orlando um you know get a chance to uh pick a lot of guys brains a lot of your peers’ brains and it’s about you um you know you’ve been chosen as one of the

Rising stars and that’s no small feat he’s played well for us this season uh he he’s been a huge impactful player for us and I’m just happy for him that he gets to experience that being around some of the best in the world and uh really see what it’s like um sometimes

It could be overwhelming at first once you get there a little nerve-wracking but once the ball goes up in the air and you see all the fans and and especially the kids the kids enjoy that weekend the most and I don’t want to call

Um Thea kid CU he’s turned 20 so I don’t want to disrespect him but um you know it’ be good for him to play in front of his peers some of the kids there car how how pivotal and impactful has PJ Washington’s defense been for this ball

Club very impactful very impactful uh we don’t take it for granted and we appreciate him doing the little things for us to be successful in these last few games uh to get traded in the middle of the season is is not easy uh so we really feel for him um and going into

This All-Star Break um you know even like tonight I told him I said you know once you play a few more games with us you you’ll stop deferring to me and Luca and just be be yourself out there and command the ball uh you’re playing with some selfless individuals that are some

Big Gamers so uh we know the rhythm of the game and who needs to get involved um but tonight uh showed his maturity to be able to not shoot the ball particularly well not get as many shots not be involved in the offensive end but still commit himself to defensive end um

That that that’s a um trait of a winner so we want him to continue that in the last question oh sorry um you mentioned your father earlier and he was sitting there court side just what does it feel like I know it he’s been at many games

But just what does it feel like for you to see him there side supporting you and with a team that you found your peace and happiness with yeah my my dad’s proud of me he’s happy for me and I think he can speak for himself you know

If you ever get a chance to talk with not many people get a chance to get to know him uh know the foundation of where I come from people just assume that I just dropped out of thin air and you know what I mean like my my parents are

Not involved or anything like that but my dad has uh truly influential in my life and he seen millions of my games so you know you guys are enjoying things that you know you get to see for the past few years my dad has seen it since I was

Four or five years old so um you know when we have our moments to talk about how I can get better those are the things I appreciate but the most important role that he plays in my life is just being a great father and being

There for me as a man um he’s imperfect I’m imperfect and he just consistently giving me advice and telling me that he’s an open book he’s seen a lot of life in this world he has a lot of experience he’s been around the league for a while too you know with my go

Father being the NBA so he he’s been around the lifestyle he’s very familiar with it and um he just wants me to have peace of mind every single day I wake up and and knowing um you know I have a supportive Family behind me every single day you know this lifestyle could get

Very lonely sometimes when you’re in those hotel rooms or traveling and trying to be the best of the best not a lot of people understand not a lot of people get it so to have um you know one parent in my life or two parents with my

Stepmom as well um supporting me it means the world to me um going back to PJ and him trusting you got you know trusting himself but I know D has talked about trust within the team how much does that factor into like games like tonight and just games overall say that

First part one time um about PJ yeah yeah about PJ trusting himself the hottest trust overall factor in like games like tonight and just games over oh yeah it’s a it’s a huge Factor uh again I I’ll speak to his maturity you know we we don’t see I don’t want to say

We don’t see a lot of young guys but sometimes it takes young guys a little while it took me a while to figure out how to win uh with quality teammates and to fulfill a role without getting too emotionally stressed over playing well in the offensive end or not getting the

Ball especially playing with guys that are highly efficient um that’s an adjustment period but I feel like you know he’s integrated himself very well I know him being at Kentucky helped um you know not having the ball all the time and doing the little things so it’s the

Same thing here you playing with some high Lev players that make the game easy you don’t have to overthink it you you do the the little things that help us win and we’ll be very successful and and that’s what I’m going to continue to reiterate him when we’re out there um

And then moving forward we’ll get him a few more post-ups get him some touches when he needs to feel that Rhythm and you should answer all his questions yeah that’s it hey I you like this is good first half of the city I’ll catch y’all yeah I was like I catch

Y next Wednesday Tuesday whatever first off how it feel being back felt amazing you know being out there with my family again being able to bring the energy and just come out finish out the first half well first two thirds of the season so we had this all

Start breaking just going out there and get a dub feels amazing was the mask run on you at all um first time I put it on was rough and then you just got to slowly and slowly make more modifications so that you can you know

Play with it and be able to be used to it so now you know just kind of trying to go out there and just play more and more with it so I can get more and more used to it how how long are you going to

Have to wear it post offer break uh I’m probably going to have to wear it for the next 3 4 weeks just being able to make sure my nose heals straight and everything like that does it impact Vision or is it just a comfort thing oh it’s like a comfort thing just being

Able to you have like a muzzle on so he’s got to be able to just get used to it what does it mean do you guys be heading into this break playing as good as you have these last few weeks uh you know just being able to show how good we

Can play Whenever you know we still have a lot of couple mistakes going on so we know that if we just clean up on those mistakes clean up on a couple uh intangible things we know that we could just take what we’ve done so far and just blow it out of proportion just

Being able to make sure we get more and more wins and just try to keep going you and Gafford obviously have similar games what do you think of what you’ve seen from him so far and then kind of how that tag team will will I feel like uh

Fits into this team amazing you know he’s bringing the energy he’s always talking and he’s just really he’s a great character just being able to know he has a high energy High motor he’s going out there chasing every board going after every shot just being able

To have another person like that on the team just makes it that much easier for me fortunately it wasn’t that long um away from the court your action time here tonight but um during that time off were you able to attack many different ways on how to still work your game uh

Just being able to just watch film being able to just try to do little things where I’m using to my hands and just doing hand eye coordination things we building a lot of Legos so I can definitely say that that’s been just looking for the pieces looking at the

Paper that’s definitely been helping with my hands just being able to just make sure I’m always locked in and just uh learning things from the floor too favorite Lego piece that you made oh that’s hard dinosaur made a ship uh made a giraff uh made some cars get all that

Miles Turner does that too yep yep but it’s his thing I’m just having fun with it I Wonder Maybe This is like all seven footer maybe maybe when uh so so when you’re when you see oneyama block a couple shots and early on and then as

The game goes on Kyrie is like keeps going at him and finding ways to to finish over him or or you know thre him on one like from your perspective is is that enjoy like what’s enjoyable about that CRA it’s crazy being able to see him use both hands so efficiently you

Know being able to see him put the ball in his left hand he’s still comfortable with the ball in his right hand hand you know he’s able to be acrobatic in the air he’s able to make finishes and I know everybody on the sidelines and even

On the court is like wow you know we did that just being able to have a player like that in the floor just makes that thing it makes everything just kind of flow very well because you know when we get when we get stuck on being able to

Score you know we give the ball to kind and kind of figure figures things out what are you hoping to uh uh enjoy or or accomplish or do in in Indi now honestly I’m just going there to learn and just have an amazing time you know it’s my

First time being here being there so I have no clue what it’s going to be like so just really just going there with an open mind open perspective and just trying to have a good time last time you were at the podium you talked about trust when you guys were down how much

Did that trust factor in to coming back it factored a lot and just being able to make sure that in our rotations we have to be able to help the help the helper and being able to we talk and just being able to make sure that whenever we when

We throw the pass we trust with the pass is going to so no matter if someone’s missing the shot we’re going to put them in the same position and hit the shot the next position possession what have you seen from PJ Washington defensively honestly he’s he’s been a pest he’s been exactly what

We needed and he’s he’s honestly exed everything I thought you know he being able to he’s talking he’s always he’s always in help Lanes he’s always trying to cover somebody’s back and that’s what we need so being able to have his energy and have his effort out there it’s amazing appreciate thank

You it’s cool for you guys to go so we don’t have anything that’s cool what you think of lively tonight and uh how en Vision kind of that tag team goinging forward yeah I that library was great um you know to be able to play the 17

Minutes to give us that he gave us a boost the energy um defensively um offensively he was he was really really good so it was good for him to get those 17 minutes under his uh under his belt before he goes up to Indiana to play in the baby allstar game

And then um come back and get ready you know second half you put uh PJ on L for some possessions what did what did you see what did you like about that um I just love what PJ is doing defensively for us uh he’s guarding everyone and

He’s guarding them at a high level and so that gives us step to be able to play him on bigs or or bigger wings or even smallest and so um we just see that here in the in the short time his defense is above part and we need that um and the

Other beaut of what he brings is that you know he’s not calling for the ball offensively he just lets the game come to him his ability to playmake uh I doubt we want to see him you know playmaking I think he makees some great passes and great read so um just to see

Him comfortable but defensively I think him and Max to give us you know something that we can definitely use going down the stretch here going into the the break now guys obviously are rolling a little bit with six wins how do you feel just overall about the the

Upti you seen this last couple weeks yeah I think that you know key word is team I think we we’re coming together um we’re starting to get healthy um and so that’s going to you know be a little bit of a change cuz we’re not used to being

Healthy so minutes won’t be as high so guys have to make that adjustment but our death should be one of our weapons and and also you know our Pace being able to play fast that’s something we talked about at the beginning of the year um we’ve been Limited due to uh

Bodies but now that we’re getting we’re getting healthy I think we can play fast and I think that’ll help our defense um but it should be exciting second half as far as getting healthy goes do you have a feel for whether exm might be able you

Know after come out of break or what potential time is there great question um hopefully he’s back for practice on Tuesday and then if he’s back on Tuesday I can give you a better answer um but I think his workouts have been great up to this point um we’re expecting him back

Um after the break but on Tuesday I think I can answer that better for you um but um yeah Tuesday after after oneyama gets a few early blocks is it is it enjoyable for you is it fun when you see Kyrie going at him and finding ways

To finish over and have yeah I think it’s um yeah it’s it’s a beautiful thing to to watch Kai and His short game um his ability you know to use the glass the English um I didn’t know what he was going to do with the one you know he got

Under the basket um he quicked him a little bit um Victor didn’t know what to do um Kai knew exactly what he was doing um and score but Kai can score again I thought his leadership today um was big cuz it’s easy for a game like this to

Get away from you in our first quarter we were a little sluggish there um but he kept us in it and then he L us um you know throughout the game but his finishing is like no other and it’s it’s it’s a beautiful thing to watch mentioned your other allar but uh what

Do you just think of Luca especially his little spin cycle move there yeah yeah I I thought he was going to get dizzy as much as he was going in circles um he he’s playing at a high level right now he should be mentioned more in the MVP

Conversation of what he’s done here this month um and heading into Indiana he’s one of the best in the world so we wish him the best of luck with that um but he also needs to get some rest and get ready um because you know everybody everyone’s bunched up you know 1 through

Four is bunched up 5 through nine is bunched up so every game’s going to mean something and it’s going to be a lot of fun thanks so

Dallas Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving, Dereck Lively II, and Jason Kidd spoke to reporters after the victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 14, 2024.

Kyrie Irving: 0:00 to 10:06
Dereck Lively II: 10:06 to 14:20
Jason Kidd: 14:20 to 18:49

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