Kyrie Irving Believes Mavericks ‘Match Up With Pretty Much Anybody’

After the Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets, Kyrie Irving told NBA reporters that he believes the Mavs “match up with pretty much anybody.”

The Mavericks are 39-29 on the season. They are in seventh place in the Western Conference standings. 

“I feel like we match up with pretty much anybody,” Irving said, via The Athletic. “We want to beat (a team like Denver) with the same mentality that teams have against us. And I think we give ourselves a chance to prove that. Tonight we were successful.”

The Mavericks are sixth in the NBA in points per game and 22nd in points per game allowed. They have the 15th-best net rating in the league. 

“I think we know we can play defense when we want to,” Mavericks guard Dante Exum told Tim Cato of The Athletic. “We’ve had great possessions here and there, great quarters. So I think (it’s) just about putting it together and making sure that, when we need to, we can do it for a full game.”

Irving and Luka Doncic are averaging a combined 59.8 points per game. Doncic is averaging 34.4 points, 9.0 rebounds and 9.7 assists this season, while Irving is averaging 25.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists. 

The Mavericks didn’t make the playoffs last year. Many people around the NBA thought the Doncic-Irving pairing wouldn’t work. However, Doncic and Irving have co-existed nicely this season. 

Dallas is 30-26 when both Doncic and Irving are in the lineup dating back to last season. 

If the season ended today, the Mavericks would face the Phoenix Suns in the 7-8 play-in tournament game. It will be interesting to see what seed Dallas is once the 2023-24 regular season ends.