Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Dallas Mavericks are in a tricky situation. They have the talent to compete in the postseason, but with just a few short weeks left until the playoffs, they need to be on their A-game. Dallas is in the middle of a packed Western Conference with very little room for error.
On Wednesday night, however, they lost a crucial game to the Golden State Warriors. The game was extremely close, but the Warriors inched past the Mavericks in the final moments. After the game, Jaden Hardy was asked about what it’s been like to be teammates with Kyrie Irving, and he had nothing but praise for the star point guard.
“Since the time he’s been here, he’s helped me a lot,” Hardy said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “He’s always in my ear giving me feedback of what he thinks [and] what he sees when I’m out there on the floor. So, that always helps coming from him. And when I was younger, I looked up to him and watched a lot of him, so I tried to take things from his game and add them to mine. So, just having him here with me and him being able to tell me things and just help me help me get better, I’m super grateful for that.”
Irving didn’t play in the Mavericks’ game against the Warriors, but Hardy played a huge role off the bench. He finished the game with 27 points, five rebounds, one assist, and one steal on 10-of-18 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Stephen Curry Has High Praise for Luka Doncic
Luka Doncic is one of the greatest players in the world, and it’s no easy feat to go up against him. After the game, Stephen Curry sent a message on what it’s like to take on Doncic.
“I mean, for the most part, we put him on the free throw line too much in the first half. But Luka is interesting,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “He’s going to get his numbers because he’s good, first and foremost, but they have a team formed around him that gives him a lot of space, and he’s great at picking and choosing his spots. Whether he’s looking for a shot or putting pressure on you in the paint to kick out to shooters. They made 17 threes off of a lot of his gravity, so you got to live with some of that stuff, and you got to live with him having big numbers because, again, he’s that great, and he has a lot of opportunity.”
Stephen Curry Sounds Off on Christian Wood
Meanwhile, Curry also had high praise for both Wood and Hardy.
“We knew him and Christian were the X-factors for their team,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “If they get going, they’re tough to beat because you know what Luka [Doncic] is going to do. He has the ball in his hands the whole game, and he requires a lot of attention. And as a secondary scorer, Jaden was really efficient. He made some big shots. A couple of threes in the fourth quarter. But obviously, he did it the whole game. He’s talented. He can score. He’s kind of fearless out there. He had a great game.”