Mavs Step Back: Luka, Kyrie Sizzle, P.J. Washington Breakout & Lookahead to Celtics

Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks bounced back in a big way with a win against the Toronto Raptors, and now they face a big road test against the best team in the league, the Boston Celtics.

Dalton Trigg | Feb 29, 2024

Mavs Step Back: Luka, Kyrie Sizzle, P.J. Washington Breakout & Lookahead to Celtics /

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Dallas Mavericks

After enduring two consecutive deflating losses, the Dallas Mavericks could've felt sorry for themselves and mailed it in during Wednesday night's second night of a back-to-back against the Toronto Raptors. However, Dallas showed strong mental fortitude and bounced back with a 136-125 win, pushing its record to 34-25 with a big road test against the league-leading Boston Celtics coming up on Friday.

"Good character," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said after Wednesday's game. "Intent, the energy pre-game was in the right place. We lost on a 50-footer. We could have easily been still thinking about that game. I thought the guys moved forward."

Copy of MavsNuggets Game Recap (19) — USA TODAY Sports

On the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we breakdown several key areas of Dallas' bounce-back win, including Luka Doncic's 30-point triple-double on his birthday, Kyrie Irving's dominant fourth quarter takeover, P.J. Washington's all-around breakout game, Dereck Lively II's block party, and much, much more!

“It’s really a team effort," Irving said. "I think the true testament of greatness is being next to other great players and being able to be yourself.”

Mavs Show 'Good Character' in Bounce-Back Road Win Over Raptors

Now, the Mavs will get to test just how great they are, as they'll take on a Celtics team that has a 46-12 overall record and a 27-3 record at TD Garden. It won't be easy, as it will be the Mavs' third road game in four nights, but it will be a chance for Doncic, Irving and the rest of the crew to officially announce their arrival as a title contender.

You can watch today's show below, and be sure to SUBSCRIBE, as well as leave your takes in the comments on YouTube:

Published Feb 29, 2024

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.