Mavs Step Back Reactions: Kyrie Irving Nails Outrageous Buzzer-Beating Floater to Defeat Nuggets!
DALLAS – If you're looking for an epic playoff atmosphere, look no further than what transpired at American Airlines Center on Sunday afternoon as a jam-packed, raucous St. Patrick Day's crowd took in the most memorable Dallas Mavericks game of the season.
With 25.0 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Mavs found themselves down 105-102 – after leading by as many as 13 points earlier in the period – until Luka Doncic tied the game with a clutch 3-pointer. After Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray missed a go-ahead attempt for Denver, Dallas had the ball with 2.8 seconds remaining and a chance to win the game in walk-off fashion.
Maxi Kleber inbounded the ball to Kyrie Irving, who then curled around Nikola Jokic and put up an outrageous, left-handed floater that went through the net as the buzzer sounded to give the Mavs a 107-105 win. The euphoric roar from the AAC crowd was enough to give anyone in attendance a natural high ... unless, of course, you were a Nuggets fan.
“It felt good," Irving said. "It’s a play that we work on during shootaround pretty often, so it felt good to execute. I had trust in my teammates out there and, in the end, being lucky enough to hit a left-hand floater. I looked at it after the game and I was pretty far out. Shots that I work on and just being ambidextrous and just trusting the skills that I work on.”
On the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we give a full recap of the Mavs' unbelievable win over the Nuggets, including our thoughts on Irving and Doncic's individual performances, Daniel Gafford's defensive impact on Jokic, P.J. Washington continuing to make a positive impact despite staying in a major shooting slump, and much, much more.
You can watch today's entire show below, and be sure to hit that "SUBSCRIBE" button, as well as leave your takes in the comments on YouTube. We want to hear from you!