Kyrie Irving, Mavericks haven't let February chaos sink their season
DALLAS — In the Dallas Mavericks' penultimate game before the All-Star break, Kyrie Irving hit three 3-pointers in a 41-second span and scored 42 points against a top-10 NBA defense.
Yet, arguably the most impressive play he made Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors came on the defensive end. With 17.6 seconds remaining, Irving stepped in front of Warriors forward Jimmy Butler and took a charge.
'Plain and simple,' Irving said after Dallas' 111-107 win. 'If I'm putting my body on the line, we all have to. Whatever it takes to win.'
Kyrie Irving scored 42 PTS tonight…
And took this CRUCIAL charge in the closing seconds to help seal the @dallasmavs 4-point win! pic.twitter.com/NDOixj5T00
— NBA (@NBA) February 13, 2025
It has been almost two weeks since the Mavericks moved Luka Dončić in a middle-of-the night trade. They lost their first game without him by 43 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since then, the Mavericks have lost games to the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings by a combined three points but also earned quality wins over the Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors and, on Thursday night, the Miami Heat. The Mavericks beat the Heat 118-113 despite Irving and Klay Thompson not playing.
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They have won four of five games headed into the All-Star break.
'This year is about being resilient and putting your hard hat on,' said Irving, who on Monday was named an All-Star injury replacement for teammate Anthony Davis.
Irving in recent years has been praised more for his skill than his grit, but this season, he has worn Carhartts to work and packed a lunch pail. The Mavericks have had multiple injuries to deal with, and earlier this month, they traded a perennial MVP candidate. The burden to create offense and mentally stay the course falls heavily on the 32-year-old's shoulders.
Irving is averaging nearly 37 minutes per game while having one of the most efficient scoring seasons of his career.
'He sets a standard,' said Kessler Edwards, who was teammates with Irving in Brooklyn and is now on a two-way contract in Dallas. 'If he sees any of us slacking, he holds us to that. He also has a great personality. It's light in the locker room around him, so it's great.'
Irving's whatever-it-takes mentality has trickled down to the rest of the team. On Thursday, the Mavericks gave him the night off after he played 40 minutes in the Warriors win. Dallas only had nine players available against Miami. Somehow, it still found a way to win.
Dante Exum scored 27 points. He was one of seven Mavericks in double figures in the victory against the Heat.
'No one is pouting. Everyone is playing,' Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said Thursday. 'Big win before the break. Now we can rest, regroup and get ready for the second half.'
Kidd coached one of the most difficult games of his career Monday against Sacramento. Daniel Gafford, the Mavericks' last healthy center with any real NBA experience, suffered a right knee injury in the second quarter. The Mavericks were in position to win in overtime until DeMar DeRozan hit a go-ahead midrange shot in the final seconds.
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The loss further was marred by American Airlines Center security ejecting fans who were angry about the Dončić trade. Kidd was so frustrated that he skipped postgame media availability.
'It's hard to sleep right now,' Kidd said. 'Just understanding I need to find a way to put those guys in position to be successful. We are asking a lot of those guys to do things we never asked them to do. There are no complaints in that locker room.'
Fan frustration with Mavericks management likely isn't going to fade any time soon, but the players Dallas has in uniform have given fans little to complain about. In his first — and so far, only — game as a Maverick, Davis was cheered loudly in pregame introductions. Davis dominated for a half but left in the third quarter with a left adductor strain.
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Mavs' Anthony Davis to miss multiple weeks; Kyrie Irving takes All-Star spot
The Mavericks were so injury depleted in their final two games before the All-Star break that they started the 6-foot-8 Edwards at center. Edwards said he hadn't played the position since high school. He said the Dončić trade 'was a lot of shock' when it first happened.
'But we have vets holding it down,' Edwards said.
Few teams need the All-Star break as badly as Dallas. The last two weeks have worn on the Mavericks physically and emotionally. They have continued to win, which is a testament to Irving, Kidd and others who haven't let this February chaos sink their season.
'Our home stadium, we have to protect it,' Irving said. 'Our building, we have to protect it. I feel like our fans know that. We are obviously dealing with something unique. At the same time, we have to put our best foot forward.'
(Photo of Kyrie Irving and Olivier-Maxence Prosper: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
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Indianapolis Star
30 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
How Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton shut out the noise and found a way to beat the Thunder
INDIANAPOLIS -- Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton knows what to expect from the online and television discourse every time he has a performance like he had in Game 2 of the NBA Finals -- when his scoring and field goal attempt numbers take a dip and he doesn't make the impact he wants to. During the regular season it's more of a local phenomenon, but once the postseason hit, the discourse became more national with every round. How is it possible someone capable of so much magic in a historically improbable late-game comeback such as Game 1 of this series when Haliburton hit a game-winning jumper with 0.3 seconds to go to be so quiet in games the Pacers lose. They say he's not aggressive enough or too inconsistent to be considered a superstar and wonder why the 2023-24 NBA assist leader hasn't figured out that he should just shoot more. The narratives are overly simplistic, but Haliburton knows at this point there's only so much he can do to change that. He admits that he is "chronically online" and has a better sense of the NBA and how it's covered than just about any other active player, but at this stage he's actively trying to avoid the social media that he usually drinks in. "I think the commentary is always going to be what it is, you know?" Haliburton said. "Most of the time, the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn't care less. Honestly, like what do they really know about basketball?" Re-live the Pacers unbelievable run to the NBA Finals in IndyStar's commemorative book Haliburton is aware there's a correlation between his scoring and the Pacers' success. He averaged 21.2 points in wins in the regular season on 14.6 field goal attempts per game and 14.3 points per game on 12.4 field goal attempts in defeats. But he views his scoring less as a cause of the Pacers' wins and more of a connected effect. He scores more and the Pacers win more when he's getting two feet in the paint, and that happens when he's orchestrating the Pacers whirling, ball-movement oriented offense the way that he wants to. The wispy 6-5, 185-pounder who was raised on Magic Johnson highlight videos is neither physically nor mentally built to doggedly drive into the lane to pile up shots and draw fouls in an effort to score 30 or 40 points every night. But when he gets the offense spinning, he can put up big scoring and assist numbers by letting the game come to him. Usually when he doesn't score much, that's a sign of a deeper dysfunction in execution, and Haliburton looks to find that issue rather than focus on his field goal attempts. And in Game 3 he made the adjustments he needed to make. After scoring 17 points in Sunday's Game 2 with 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter after the Pacers had faded too far to come back, Haliburton dazzled in Game 3 with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to help lead the Pacers to a 116-107 win over the Thunder on Wednesday in their first NBA Finals home game since 2000. Twenty-five years to the day after the Pacers' Game 3 win over the Lakers in the 2000 Finals, they took a 2-1 lead in this NBA Finals with Game 4 coming up Friday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Haliburton didn't view the performance as a triumph of aggression or will but of an adjustment in mindset and strategy against a Thunder defense that he told ESPN he considers to be the best he's played against. In Game 2, Haliburton believed he allowed the Pacers' system of randomized movement to become too predictable and too predicated on high ball screens -- usually Haliburton's bread and butter, but an action that plays right into the hands of a swarming Thunder defense. In Game 3, he mixed up actions well enough to create space which was beneficial not only for him but everyone else on the Pacers' roster. Their 116 points were the most they've scored in a game this series, they shot a series-best 51.8% from the floor and scored 50 points in the paint after scoring just 34 in each of the first two games. "We did a great job of just playing off the pitch, off handoffs, screening, all those things," Haliburton said. "I thought we did a great job of -- this is a defense that you can't consistently give them the same look. If you try to hold the ball and call for screens, they crawl into you and pack the paint. It's not easy. It's really tough. That's why they are such a historical defense. You just have to continue to give them different looks as much as you can. I thought we did a great job of just playing and continuing to play random basketball. Against a team like this, there's not really play calls. You've just got to play." That's what Haliburton did and he let his own offense come to him as the game went along. He didn't take a shot for nearly six minutes to start the game and he missed his first field goal attempt, a 20-foot step-back pull-up jumper with 6:10 to go in the first quarter. But he followed that by driving past Thunder All-NBA second team defender Jalen Williams to the right side of the foul line and hitting a 16-foot floater over Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein with 5:10 to play in the first quarter. Then he hit his first 3-pointer in first-team All-Defensive Team pick Luguentz Dort's face with 3:00 to go in the period and suddenly he had his rhythm established early. Haliburton put faith in his floater -- a weapon he's admittedly sometimes too reluctant to use -- hitting three mid-range shots in that fashion over top of charging big men. He scored two buckets at the rim -- one an impressive finish on a drive through contact and the other an easy two-handed fast-break dunk off a steal. He was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, hitting his most 3s since he made five in his 32-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound triple-double in the Pacers' win over the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. But he didn't just look for his own offense. He helped get fellow All-Star Pascal Siakam started early as Siakam scored the Pacers first six points en route to a 21-point night. Haliburton still got center Myles Turner involved with pick-and-roll and pick and pop actions even though the Pacers tried not to live off those as much. He made plays "off the pitch," using give-and-go actions with bigs operating near the top of the key with their back to the basket catching his passes and tossing them right back to him and that got Haliburton downhill momentum that he could use to either go to the rim or pass and it helped keep the Thunder from loading up their defense quickly. The Pacers managed 41 field goal attempts in the paint after taking just 27 in Game 2. "Terrific," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton. "Look, every game you're going to have to make adjustments against this defense. There's just going to be different looks. You're going to have different high-level defenders on you. You're going to see some different coverage stuff. It's going to be constantly changing. So I thought his approach tonight was exactly what it needed to be, a combination of spatial awareness and aggression, and you know, a real good feel for aggression to score along with getting his teammates involved at the right times." Haliburton moves forward knowing that solving the Thunder defense for a game isn't the same as solving it for a series. Oklahoma City led the NBA in defensive rating and allowed the fewest paint points, and they'll find more ways to keep the ball away from the rim in Game 4. He also knows that there will be games when he's successfully bottled up or scores fewer points because he's more focused on creating for others. "I think there's going to be ebbs and flows," Haliburton said. "I'm never going to be, you know, super great and shoot so many shots every game consistently. There's going to be games where I don't and I've got to be able to find the right balance between the two. But I mean, I think experience is the best way I can learn from it. So seeing where I can be better is important through the first two games and just trying to be better today. You know, taking what the defense gives me, trying to play the right way and watch film and see where I can get better and be ready to go for Game 4." Haliburton has a lot of voices telling him he needs to shoot more. His personal trainer, Drew Hanlen, is particularly explicit about it, and Haliburton acknowledges that he sees plenty of examples of himself passing out on shots he should take and make in the course of a game. But part of that is a product of focus on making the textbook right play and keeping in mind the importance of involving his teammates. In turn, they trust his judgment. "Ty's got to do him," Siakam said. "That's what he's got to do, he's got to be himself every time he's out on the floor. He can impact the game in so many ways. So I'm really not worried about his scoring. I just know that he's going to make the right play. But when he's intentional about doing that every single play, I know something good is going to happen. So as long as he keeps doing that, we're going to be all right."
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL
How Tigers' fallen star, late-blooming No. 1 picks got Detroit roaring atop AL Show Caption Hide Caption Watch baseball player's emotional reaction to surprise MLB promotion During a minor league baseball game in Tacoma, Washington, Cole Young was pulled aside and informed he'd been called up to play in the big leagues. BALTIMORE – They have been machinelike for nearly 120 games, spanning two seasons, and now sport the best record in the American League. Yet peel back a layer from the Detroit Tigers, and the players responsible for that excellence aren't far removed from the pitfalls of the sport. Perhaps it was the extra baggage No. 1 overall picks carry, a weight Spencer Torkelson admits delayed his eventual rise to feared slugger. Or the isolation one can feel as a flailing superstar with a $140 million contract on a struggling team, like Javy Baez endured for most of three seasons. Not even the greatest Tiger of all, peerless left-hander Tarik Skubal, is immune, undergoing Tommy John surgery at his no-name college, climbing to the big leagues only to suffer a flexor tendon injury that wiped out nearly a full season of his prime. Yet look at them now. The Tigers are 44-25, a start so dominant that the last Detroit club to break so strongly reached the 2006 World Series. They are a curious mix of largely twentysomething talent, versatile and fungible youngsters and the occasional veteran like World Series champion Báez – all willing to play anywhere or bat in whatever position, so long as everything they have is for the team. 'All things that it takes to have a lot of sustained success is definitely shining,' Torkelson, their first baseman possibly headed to his first All-Star Game, tells USA TODAY Sports, 'and having guys that have been at the bottom, been at the top, like Javy, it's such a cool perspective. 'That's baseball. That's sports. It's not going to be amazing every single day, every single year. You're going to battle through it. 'For me, that's what's so rewarding about it. You've seen the worst and when you do have success, it makes it that much sweeter.' The franchise itself can relate. A 114-loss 2019 was the nadir during seven consecutive losing seasons, a stretch of futility that netted it the top overall pick in two drafts. It wasn't until this spring that those two No. 1 overall picks, Torkelson and right-hander Casey Mize, found concurrent success. 'This is definitely a game of failure,' says Riley Greene, the Tigers' All-Star outfielder. 'They worked on the things they needed to work on and they're crushing now. Some people don't get it right away and others do; but that's the ups and downs of baseball. 'They had stuff to work on, and they took it and ran with it. And now look at 'em.' 'I wanted to make everyone happy' For Torkelson, the unkindest cut of all came when he least expected it. After spending all of 2023 in Detroit, the Tigers shipped him to Class AAA Toledo on June 3, 2024. He was toting a .201/.266/.330 slash line, with just four homers and 56 strikeouts in 230 plate appearances. It would have been humbling for any player who fancied himself a big league regular. But carrying that first overall pick designation – a tag no one ever forgets – only added to the weight. So Torkelson, still just 25 even as he's five years removed from the Tigers taking him No. 1 out of Arizona State, learned to leave all that behind. 'A lot of it was eliminating expectations. As a people pleaser, I wanted to make everyone happy,' says Torkelson. 'As a No. 1 pick, you want to live up to what everyone's writing about you rather than take a step back and be like, 'Wait, what got me selected No. 1?' My God-given ability and work ethic got me selected. So why not trust that – which is a lot easier said than done. 'Really going back to the basics and doing it not for anyone else but my own pleasure.' The mindset paid off. Torkelson earned an August recall to Detroit and produced a .781 OPS over the final two months, compared to .597 before his demotion. He's continued the trend this season, his 16 home runs tops among AL first basemen. He also leads the majors with 10 two-strike home runs, possibly a testament to his adjusted mindset. 'Baseball or golf, it's like, staying out of your own way is probably the biggest key to success for guys,' says Torkelson. 'The goal is to stay as present as possible. As a baseball player, your mind is always looking forward. You get a hit, now you're 3 for 4. You get another home run, now you've got 17. Your mind is always trying to look into the future, which it is supposed to do. 'But that's not how you maintain in a sport. It's taking a step back and seeing how you attack this pitch. Sometimes you catch yourself and you get yourself back to present.' Says manager A.J. Hinch: 'The way he bounces back from tough at-bats – he's pretty resilient.' A star embraces versatility Torkelson's recall, combined with a trade-deadline makeover and Hinch unleashing the Tigers' 'pitching chaos' plan awakened a franchise. The Tigers finished 33-16, snagged a wild-card spot and upset the Houston Astros in the wild-card round before losing a wild five-game AL Division Series to Cleveland. And Báez wasn't around for almost all of it. He and the Tigers decided he'd undergo season-ending hip surgery after an August series at Wrigley Field, sight of Báez's greatest triumphs as a member of the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs. With the Tigers, he'd been more a liability, producing a .221 OBP and 71 adjusted OPS in his first three seasons. Repairing his hip might have been the unkindest cut at the time, but now he and the Tigers are reaping the rewards. Báez returned healthy and with a new identity – the do-anything super utilityman. Báez hadn't played center field since winter ball in 2015 until Hinch tossed him out there as a late-game defensive replacement. He ended up playing 23 consecutive games in center, robbing home runs, chasing balls into the gap and, in that span, slugging six home runs with an .898 OPS. With center fielder Parker Meadows' return, Báez is more often back at his natural shortstop. Either way, he has been remarkably valuable, producing four outs above average and 1.3 WAR, putting him on pace for his finest season as a Tiger. 'A guy like Javy, who's been the center part of a lot of teams he's been on, can just be one of the guys,' Hinch says of Báez, who made two All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger as a Cub. 'He doesn't have to carry us; we have a true team and a lot of guys who can do it. But when he adds something to the mix, we usually win. 'He's a big part of what we're doing and I think he's one of the best, versatile players in the league.' Báez's production fused with the young core was the outcome he envisioned when he signed with the Tigers, the last major transaction of former GM Al Avila's tenure. 'Everything is getting better as a team, as an organization. The only difference for me is being healthy,' says Báez, whose deal runs through 2027. 'I'm playing better for myself and playing better for the team. 'That was one of the reasons I came here: I saw the other prospects coming here and would make a good team in the future. The future is now – we're doing it right now.' Báez might have been envisioned as a franchise hub, but he's probably serving as a better avatar for the young players in his current role – versatile, willing to trot out to any position, starter or reserve, always ready. 'He's unbelievable. He's one of the best athletes, baseball players, that I've got to see live,' says Torkelson. 'You stick him in center field, he'd probably win a Gold Glove out there. He's such a great athlete and special to see every day. 'He's willing to do whatever. And he's so comfortable in whatever situation he's in – he's never sped up. He's always cool, calm and collected, something we aspire to do every game.' 'A complete team' As the season unfolds, the Tigers will have to accept their new lot in life – that of division favorites. They hold a seven-game lead in the AL Central, and with the rampant inconsistency in the AL West, would be a fair bet to earn a first-round bye should they hold onto the division. Promising right-hander Jackson Jobe has been lost to Tommy John surgery, a big blow for his development, yet one the Tigers can weather given their depth with Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Mize out front of the rotation. Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, already weathered that storm undergoing Tommy John and also back surgery, a double whammy that wiped out his 2023 season. 'We have Tarik leading us at the top. He's the best pitcher in the league,' says Mize, who has a 2.95 ERA in 11 starts. 'And we have some depth we really like and bullpen guys we really like. 'A complete team.' One that's on the verge of what could be an unforgettable summer, the promise of greatness tempered by the humility that helped them reach this threshold. 'What got us to this point is taking it day by day, being there for each other and enjoying the ride,' says Torkelson. 'It's not going to be perfect. But it's going to be a lot of fun.'
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
NBA Finals Game 3 winners and losers: Pacers D contains SGA, Thunder turnovers are costly
NBA Finals Game 3 winners and losers: Pacers D contains SGA, Thunder turnovers are costly Show Caption Hide Caption Shaq talks NBA Finals matchup and NBA on TNT Shaquille O'Neal joins Sports Seriously to talk about all things NBA and his upcoming Netflix docu-series 'Power Moves'. Sports Seriously The Indiana Pacers are two wins away from their first-ever NBA title. Behind a second quarter spark and a barrage from its bench, Indiana controlled the Oklahoma City Thunder on June 11 in the pivotal Game 3 of the NBA Finals, 116-107. Backup Pacers shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin led all players with 27 points, while Tyrese Haliburton added 22 and Pascal Siakam chipped in 21. And for the Pacers, this was massive; when NBA Finals have been tied at 1-1, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the title 80.5% of the time. The Pacers are now 5-0 this postseason when coming off a loss. They still have not trailed in any of the four series they have played these playoffs. Here are the winners and losers from the crucial Game 3 of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder: WINNERS Bennedict Mathurin, T.J. McConnell and the Pacers bench The Pacers' bench, overall, was outstanding, yes. They outscored Oklahoma City's reserves by a margin of 49-18. But two players, above all, lifted Indiana and were key in a second quarter run that changed the course of the game. Bennedict Mathurin led all players with 27 points on an absurd 9-of-12 shooting night — outscoring the entire Thunder bench — in 22:24. T.J. McConnell scored 10 timely points, but his five steals, three of them off inbounds passes, and five assists invigorated Indiana. Simply put, the Pacers' bench won them this game. 'Those guys were tremendous,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. 'T.J. just brought a competitive will to the game. Mathurin jumped in there and was immediately aggressive and got the ball in the basket. This is the kind of team we are: we need everybody to be ready. ... 'This is how we've got to do it, we've got to do it as a team.' For at least one night, the Indiana defense was better It looked, at least for one game, that it was the Pacers who were the No. 1 defense in the NBA. Indiana put forth a monstrous team effort, particularly on NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, sending multiple players at him, swarming and swatting at the ball when he had it in vulnerable spots. After Game 2, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said of Gilgeous-Alexander that 'you can mark down 34 points before (the Thunder) even get on the plane.' Perhaps it was a subtle way of sending a message to his players, but Indiana held SGA to 10 points fewer than that, on 9-of-20 shooting. The Pacers rotated players on Gilgeous-Alexander and put full-court pressure on him basically the entire game, and the spike in energy appeared to tire Gilgeous-Alexander, especially late. He had just three attempts in the fourth quarter and did not register an assist 'Their overall tone was better than ours for the majority of the game,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after the game. Tyrese Haliburton finds his shot — early In Games 1 and 2, Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton had combined for just nine first half points. On Wednesday night, Haliburton had scored 12 on 5-of-8 shooting, adding seven assists, before intermission. It set the tone. When Haliburton — who finished with 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds — is aggressive and gets his shot, the Pacers tend to win. This season, they are 20-1 when he scores at least 20 points and dishes out at least 10 assists. LOSERS Thunder offense sputters without massive SGA game Oklahoma City has actually had nice spurts of offense this series from role players. Luguentz Dort has shot 10-of-17 (66.7%) from 3. Aaron Wiggins popped off for 18 points in Game 2. Alex Caruso poured in 20 in Game 2. But this felt like a game that, for the Thunder to have a chance to win, Gilgeous-Alexander was going to have to go off and score 35 or more. Oklahoma City shot just 35.3% from the field in the fourth quarter. With players pressing some, the Thunder also committed five turnovers in the period. Thunder ball protection The steals off the inbounds were indicative of a larger issue for Oklahoma City: the turnovers were debilitating. 'They sucked,' Jalen Williams said. 'Just bad, unforced turnovers.' Indiana had lost the turnover battles in Games 1 and 2 by 19 combined. But Wednesday night, the Thunder were more careless with the ball, committing 19 turnovers — compared to Indiana's 14. Not surprisingly, the Pacers won the battle in points off turnovers, 21-14. The decision to start Cason Wallace over Isaiah Hartenstein The Thunder — the team with the best record (68-14) in the NBA — had rolled through the NBA playoffs, going 12-4 before the start of the Finals. Center Isaiah Hartenstein had started each of those games, but Thunder coach Mark Daigneault opted to start Cason Wallace in all three games against the Pacers. It now seems like an overcorrection and perhaps even something of a panic move. Though it was just by two points, the Pacers outscored the Thunder in the paint for the first time this series, 50-48. Oklahoma City had carried a plus-20 advantage prior to Wednesday night. Keeping Indiana out of the paint and forcing them to settle for jump shots will be key for the Thunder in Game 4. Hartenstein, who played just 22 minutes and was not a factor, makes that prospect much easier. The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments with USA TODAY's sports newsletter. Your inbox will approve.
