Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks and Dillon Brooks of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Dallas Mavericks have had an up-and-down season this year. With the playoffs just a few weeks away, they need to be at the top of their game, but they just can’t seem to find any sort of consistency. And the numerous injuries they’ve dealt with certainly haven’t helped, either.
On Monday night, the Mavericks were dealt another potential injury blow. Dillon Brooks stepped on Kyrie Irving’s foot, injuring the new Mavericks star. After the game, Irving spoke about the play and how he should have been better after getting hurt.
“At the end of the day, we got to take care of the controllable details out there, which is rebounding and staying in front of our men,” Irving said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “For the majority night, we did that. But for me, I have to be better if I’m going to be out there. Even maintaining the pace that I was after getting somewhat injured by Dillon. Just got to maintain the poise.”
Irving struggled mightily after the injury, shooting 0-for-8 in the fourth quarter. He ended the night with 28 points, four rebounds, one steal, and two blocks on 10-of-24 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Despite Brooks injuring his foot, Irving wasn’t upset post-game, as he doesn’t believe the move was intentional.
“Just a re-aggravation of my foot. Unfortunate play,” Irving said. “I would have felt different up here if I felt Dillon did it on purpose, but I didn’t. So, just one of those plays where he’s trailing me, and I think his feet got caught up with mine, and I twisted my ankle. So, just bad timing, but the game has to keep going on.”
Maxi Kleber Sounds Off on Kyrie Irving
On Saturday night, the Mavericks took down the Los Angeles Lakers in dramatic fashion, with Maxi Kleber nailing the game-winning shot after receiving a beautiful pass from Irving with time expiring in the fourth. After the game, Kleber showed serious love to Irving.
“First of all, he’s very experienced. Very calm,” Kleber said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “He knows how to talk to people [and] where to set up people. [He] sees the strengths in players and knows what he expects them to do. So, that helps a lot. And then, obviously, like I said, he’s a very, very great teammate. He always has positive spirits, uplifting words, and all that. So, I’m very appreciative to be able to play with him. I think I learn a lot from just his body language. The way he interacts with his teammates. Just a great character guy.”
Kyrie Irving Discusses Final Play vs. Lakers
In addition, Irving broke down the final play that saw the Mavericks pick up a win over the Lakers.
“It seemed like three of them were around me at the end of the game,” Irving said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “But I’m just grateful that I was able to have my head on the swivel. I thought about, for a split second, forcing that two up to tie the basketball game. But I saw Maxi open. I saw AD [Anthony Davis] kind of helping a little too much. So, I tried to get it into his shot pocket, and I’m glad I got it to him with enough time to at least get the shot off. I could easily be sitting in this position with a loss. It was just that type of game. But I’m glad we were resilient. We got really lucky and fortunate at the end of regulation tonight, so I’m glad it worked out for us.”