Doncic on Irving: ‘I feel like I am letting him down’

In Game 1 of their first-round series against the Clippers, the Mavericks got off to a slow start, trailed by as many as 27 points in the first half, and never recovered. 

On Sunday, at American Airlines Center, the Mavericks got off to another bad start. Dallas trailed 39-16 at the end of the first quarter and by as many as 31 points in the first half, but through the heroics of Kyrie Irving, who, after going scoreless in the first quarter, scored 40 points the rest of the way, Dallas got their first lead late, but big shots from Paul George, who had 33 points, and James Harden, who also had 33 points, Los Angeles, without Kawhi Leonard, were able to take Game 4 116-111 to tie the series at 2.

The pivotal Game 5 is Wednesday night back in Los Angeles.

It’s hard to overcome a 31-point deficit, and the Mavs overcame it, temporarily, but they did not have enough to finish the job.

Irving, who added seven rebounds and five assists to go along with his 40 points, discussed the slow start in Game 4.

“They started off the game hitting shots and taking advantage of some of our rotations,” Irving said after the loss. “They got some open looks. Some of them were contested, but they got into a great rhythm in the first quarter. When you give up 39 points(first quarter) in a playoff game and try to come back, it’s going to be difficult. We knew from that point on we had to play almost perfectly. We dug ourselves in a hole. There was no time to complain about it, or look to each other for excuses. It was just time to get it going. We fell short.”

Luka Doncic, who had a triple-double with 29 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, looked slightly bothered by his knee injury, which he suffered in Game 3. He says he needs to do more to help Irving.

“I have to help him more,” Doncic said. “I feel like I am letting him down so I have to be there. I have to help him more. He’s giving everything that he has. He’s been amazing for us the whole series.”

With Leonard in the lineup, Dallas is 2-0 against the Clippers in this series, but when he’s not there, they are 0-2. Irving explained how the Clippers are different without Leonard.

“When Kawhi [Leonard] is not in the lineup, you can see they are different players to a certain degree,” Irving said. “I don’t want to disrespect their talent, but I think [they] play with a little bit more liberation [and] they take a lot more tough shots. When Kawhi is out there, I think they’re looking to be efficient and get each other going a little bit more. For the second game where Kawhi isn’t playing, we came out, and I don’t think we were prepared for some of the shots they were taking.”

Dallas has to take advantage of Leonard being in street clothes; they didn’t in Games 1 and 4, but regardless of who is there, the Mavs must be better and try to get Game 5 in Los Angeles, which means getting off to a great start.