The Dallas Mavericks lost to the Sacramento Kings 122-98 Monday night in Dallas, completing the season sweep by Sac-Town, a new low in a season rife with them. But don’t jump to conclusions, this is simply the bleakest moment of the season for the Dallas Mavericks SO FAR.
The new normal
Folks, there is no “if they get healthy.” Wipe that thought from your brain. With Kyrie Irving going down in the second quarter tonight, he joins the absurdly long list of players currently out with injury. His absence, if it’s for any extended time, is the proverbial fork in this team. To add insult to injury, the playing time opened up by Kyrie leaving was only able to be filled by Jaden Hardy for about five minutes before he sprained an ankle and left the game as well.
The fight they’ve showed as they’ve tried to stay in the post-season mix while waiting for Anthony Davis or Derek Lively to return has been admirable, but the most responsible course of action at this point would be to ensure that your draft pick this offseason, one of the last in your control for the near future, lands you as good of a lottery odds as it can.
For the ‘gram
After injuring his knee, Kyrie, being helped to the bench by a Maverick assistant coach and Anothy Davis, turned around and had his carriage drop him off at the free throw line so he could stay in the game and shoot the free throws he earned. A move made famous by Kobe Bryant.
It’s a fun narrative about a tough-as-nails player not wanting to leave the game, doing everything he can to help the team, however, in this case, Kyrie made his freebies, and then, during the ensuing live ball inbounds, that same Dallas assistant coach came running onto the court to help Irving off. It resulted in a technical foul free throw for Sacramento, erasing much of what Irving had stayed in to do. Looked cool, though.
Carried by Kai
When one Ky goes down, another rises to take his place. Kai Jones, the former first round pick Dallas plucked off the street after he’d bounced out of the league, started his NBA comeback in Dallas by scoring a career high… in the first half of the game.
His 5-fot-6 first half gave him 13 points at the break, one better than his previous high of 12. He finished with 21 points and did so seemingly unscathed, which isn’t allowed, so look for him to get his foot run over by a garbage truck on the way back to his room tonight.
