Mavs Film Study: Inside Kyrie Irving's Dynamic & Unselfish Dallas Debut

Kyrie Irving led the Dallas Mavericks to a win over the LA Clippers in his debut with the team despite Luka Doncic being sidelined due to injury.

SACRAMENTO — Kyrie Irving had been traded by the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks four days before his debut. There was a delay in the transaction becoming official, resulting in Irving joining the team in Los Angeles for a practice the day before his first game since being traded.

Despite a chaotic travel schedule and having just one practice with his new team, Irving led the Mavs, who played without Luka Doncic, to a 110-104 victory on Wednesday. He finished 24 points, four rebounds, and five assists. 

“It just felt good to get this debut out of the way. It’s just been a long 96 hours, barely any sleep sometimes. First time I’ve gotten traded in the middle of a season, so it’s new for me, but I’m excited that I’m here. Let’s just keep things rolling now.”

Irving proved to be a seamless fit largely playing within the flow of the offense. Against a Clippers team with no shortage of impact defenders on the wing and the ability to switch screening actions, Irving had to overcome the simplified offense having basic advantages often neutralized. He was the central focus of Tyronn Lue's game-planning efforts with Doncic sidelined. The way to circumvent likely being blitzed often was to play more off-ball and pick his spots. 

"The most important thing we stressed as a team was just don't force the ball to me," Irving said. "We talked about that as a squad. We just want to play natural basketball. You don't always have to come to me. You can play off me, I can play off the ball, I can cut."

Irving explained further: "They're just getting used to playing with me, Just seeing how many open shots I can create for them and the double teams that are coming. Our rotations are getting better. When 77 (Luka Doncic) gets back, it'll be even more enjoyable to see."

While Irving is known for his ball-handling creativity and shot-making talent, it seems to get misinterpreted that he's a highly ball-dominant player. He's adaptable due to his other abilities. He possesses an impressive ability to play off the ball, whether he's taking a motion jump shot, or getting the ball in a position to attack.

"I love playing off-ball," Irving said. "I love playing with the ball in my hands. When a few of my teammates can alleviate me of those duties, it feels good. Just getting to my spot. Knowing that the defensive mentality of other teams is to be aggressive, get the ball out of my hands at times, I was just trying to beat the traps and make smart decisions." 

While Irving missed his first few shot attempts, he showcased the dynamic shot creation ability he brings to the Mavs. He commanded Paul George on a switch after a ball screen from Dwight Powell. Irving gave the ball back and spaced out, but it later came back to him later in the clock. He used a shot fake, then right-to-left crossover to fake out George, clearing space on his step-back 3. 

The Mavs often played out of "Zoom" action, which is a general half-court action most teams utilize in their playbook. Irving had another sequence against George, one of the NBA's premier wing defenders. Irving rejected use of Powell's screen after the handoff, causing George to trail on the drive. The result is a testament to the Clippers' defense. Kawhi Leonard identified Irving getting downhill and stayed pre-rotated in help as the low-man, offering pressure on the floater attempt as opposed to what likely would have otherwise been a finish at the rim. 

Irving produced a 1:07 stretch scoring eight consecutive points to extend the Mavs' early advantage to 24-9 over the Clippers. Again, the clear emphasis from Lue's game-planning efforts was to try to take away as many chances for Irving to touch the basketball as possible. This stretch showed how Irving's transcendent talent and adaptability can counter such measures.

With the Mavs playing out of "Zoom" action again, Irving is supposed to receive a handoff from Powell to then have an advantage when turning the corner. George understands this and denies him from receiving the basketball. Irving screens away, causing Leonard to get switched onto him. Leonard attempts to deny the developing handoff, but Irving counters by rejecting and creates an open catch-and-shoot look from short-range.

With the Mavs pushing the pace off a missed shot, the Clippers were forced into having Ivica Zubac picking up Irving as his assignment. With another attempt to deny the basketball to Irving, he used his speed advantage to simply setup Zubac to free up space getting to the corner for an open catch-and-shoot look. 

The Mavs were able to turn to Irving as the primary option to play out of ball screens when the situation called for it. The Clippers were often going to switch screens as they tend to do, so the traditional advantages posed by these actions isn't there. With only one star on the floor, Irving became the central focus of overloading.

The expectation going into a ball screen for Irving is that he will have to make something happen with his talent in an isolation situation. With George guarding Powell, the Clippers' goal was to have him be the one to make the switch to negative any advantage by Irving receiving a screen. It takes a genuinely talented shot creator to make this play and he did so successfully, ending it with a step-back 3.

The Clippers began applying extra attention to Irving. There was a possession early in the second quarter that featured him attacking baseline as a double team was developing. However, Leonard, who was on the low-man on the play, pre-rotated to pressure the drive, resulting in Irving missing a tough floater. Again, it's another example of how challenging Los Angeles' defense was for a first matchup. 

With the focus often being on Irving's flashy ball handling ability, the ability he has to play out of triple-threat to create advantages without dribbling can be overlooked. Against the versatile Clippers defense, sometimes the situation simply calls for clearing out the star making a play. He did that with triple threat, using jab steps to get Robert Covington positioned where he can blow by attacking left to get to the rim. 

It's a real luxury to have a superstar that can feel the flow of the game requiring a big play that actually having the talent to make it. Irving is more than capable in that regard. When the Mavs' lead had been trimmed to seven during the third quarter, he pushed the pace after a missed shot and converted a pull-up 3 in transition. 

There was a string of possessions when the Clippers had managed to slow down Irving and the Mavs' offense quite a bit. It became a common outcome for possessions to end in a turnover as a result. The objective was clear: Don't let Irving be the one to beat us. The Clippers managed to rally back from being down by a double-figure deficit as as result. 

"It's 2023 in the NBA. I don't think any 20-point lead is safe," Irving said. "There's so many high-scoring guys in the league, you never know what can happen. ... The key is to not panic, just stay poised."

Irving did as Doncic likes to say by "accepting the coverage" as the Clippers loaded up on him by trusting his new teammates as a passer. 

“Bona fide pro – just a great basketball player,” Mavs guard Theo Pinson said of Irving, a star he played with in Brooklyn in 2019. “I think everybody gets mixed up by thinking basketball is just scoring. He attracts so much attention, it helps everybody. And now we got two guys like that who open up the floor for everybody.

“The sky’s the limit. We’re figuring it out, man. We really are figuring it out. The Josh Greens, Jaden Hardy, Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway, myself – just taking away a little bit of pressure off those guys makes those guys relax and just play basketball.”

In the play below, Irving received a handoff after drawing two defenders. He gave the ball up quickly to Powell, enabling him to get into a scoring position in the paint before the low-man rotated over. Powell finished the play by playing through contact and turning to his outside shoulder for the finish. 

Another prime example of the attention that Irving attracts occurred during one of Reggie Bullock's made 3-pointers. After a double team developed, Bullock relocated corner-to-corner behind the defense as the unit was focused on ball watching Irving. The only Mavs perimeter player to draw this kind of respect has been Doncic.

A major aspect of having multiple stars is that when one sits out, there is a player who can shoulder the load. Irving was an instrumental part of the Mavs staying the course in clutch time to never lose their lead. He made plays that you won't find role players making, to say the least.

“Just selfless basketball out there, playing the right way,” Irving said. “I was just telling the guys in the locker room that I liked how we didn’t panic in those last four minutes. We stayed poised. They made their runs, but we made everything tough."

Among the plays that Irving made down the stretch involved being a playmaker, leading to a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer for Pinson. He trusted his teammates to turn down a good shot on a possible finish attempt for a create shot from the perimeter. 

With there not being an advantage by using ball screens and double teams being common if Irving initiated the play, the Mavs got creative with involving him to gain favorable positions for him to succeed. Among these sequences was a pindown screen using Zubac's man to get Irving the ball against drop coverage. Irving took advantage by attacking the gap for a pull-up jumper, shooting over Zubac's contest.

One of the advantages in having a superstar is the ability they seem to have to get to the free throw line as a means to stabilize the flow of a game. With the Mavs needing to maintain their lead down with under two minutes left, Irving blew by Terance Mann with a spaced out offense, resulting in a trip to the free throw line (he made both).

Perhaps the most important play of all, the Clippers tried to double Irving as the initiator of a play to put the Mavs into a 4-on-3 situation. Dallas handled it well. The basketball found its way back to Irving after he initially accepted the coverage. He got by George out in space, then used a push crossover to get to the left side of the rim to execute a hanging finish through contact against Leonard.

With a superstar on the court with Doncic sidelined, the Mavs had a stabilizing presence to run things through. It cannot be stressed enough how impressive it is that Irving achieved this despite playing in a simplified playbook with new teammates. What helped him to get the job done? 

"J-Kidd just putting me in positions and me and my teammates just talking to me," Irving said. "Just real simple stuff."

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