Luka Doncic spent the first couple of games of Kyrie Irving’s tenure with the Dallas Mavericks on the sideline, but Dallas’ new dynamic duo finally got an opportunity to play together against the Kings in Sacramento on Saturday night. Unfortunately for Dallas, the duo’s debut wasn’t enough to prevent the beam from being lit in Sac Town.
In a game that needed an extra five minutes to determine a victor, the Kings outlasted the Mavericks and pulled out a 133-128 win, thanks largely to freshly minted All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox, who poured in a season high 36 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter and another 14 in overtime. Fox has been one of the league’s top players in the clutch this season, and that skill set was once again on full display.
Fox also received some major help from Domantas Sabonis (22 points, 14 rebounds) and Terence Davis (22 points off of the bench). The third-place Kings improve to 32-24, and lead the Mavs (31-27) by two games.
Dallas was not able to get closer to Sacramento in the standings, but it did get to see and feel the optimism that comes with Doncic and Irving being on the floor together. The pair combined for 55 points — Doncic had 28, and Irving dropped 27 — and both players shot over 50 percent from the field. They also combined for 12 assists between them (seven for Irving and five for Doncic).
The early returns are promising, and Doncic and Irving will only continue to grow as a duo as they gain more on-court experience together. There appeared to be a lot of “your turn, my turn” going on between the two on the offensive end over the course of the contest, but that’s to be expected from two ball-dominant guys in their first outing together.
As they get more comfortable with each other, that cohesion will manifest in how they play off of each other and how they’re able to leverage the attention that they draw. Irving’s prior experience with playing off of ball-dominant stars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant should help him here.
Irving is pretty clearly the most talented player…
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