It’s only two games, but the effect so far is insignificant. This is the story of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas lost 121-124 in a home game against Minnesota in the 2022-2023 NBA regular season held at the American Airlines Center on the 14th (Korean time).

Dallas made a surprise acquisition of Irving last week ahead of the trade deadline. A lot of attention was paid to the meeting between Irving and Doncic, who have the best offensive power in the league. However, there are some overlaps between the two players. Like Irving, Don Cic needs to own his ball for a long time and follow his own rhythm to improve his performance. Therefore, many experts expressed concerns about their coexistence.

Although the sample is small, if you look at the results of two games played together by Irving and Doncic, a question mark is attached to whether the two players will show synergy. Dallas lost both Sacramento and Minnesota games where Irving and Doncic played together. Irving and Doncic are impeccably observing their superficial stats, averaging 30.0 and 32.0 points in the previous two games, but they could not lead the team to victory.

In the game against Minnesota, Irving scored 28 points in the 4th quarter alone, even though he was 26 points short, and pursued the game by 3 points. However, just before the end of the game trailing by 3 points, Irving and Doncic made a mistake while conceding a shot opportunity by giving each other a pass in the last offensive opportunity, and the game ended as it was.

Irving, who made a crucial error, blamed himself for the situation at the time, saying, “I should have played more intelligently in that situation. I should have taken the shot or created a chance for Luka (Doncic) to shoot.” “But looking at the overall content of the game, I am grateful that we turned a big disadvantage into a close game,” he said.

Doncic also expressed regret over the last mistake. “We didn’t try to attack, we didn’t throw, we were busy passing each other. Of course, the opponent’s defense was great,” he said. It’s just the beginning,” he said. 스포츠토토

Dallas fell into a two-game losing streak with the loss that day. While the competition for the middle rank in the West is fiercely unfolding every day, Dallas fell into a losing streak and the ranking also fell to 5th in the West. It is a task to be solved in the future that Irving and Doncic must match, but above all, the view from inside and outside that the defense that allowed 128.5 points during the losing streak and the maintenance of the wing position defense are more urgent.

In particular, the collapse of the defense under the goal and the anxiety of scoring in the paint zone are holding back Dallas. Currently, the defensive vacuum of Dorian Finley-Smith, who left as a counter-trade, is felt more than the effect of Irving’s recruitment.

In the midst of this, Dallas will face Denver Nuggets, the No. 1 in the West, on the 16th.