Mavericks’ Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving get brutally honest on scoring frustrations vs. Thunder

Doncic and Irving acknowledged that Oklahoma City is focusing on containing them. The Thunder feature an impressive defense and it almost appears as if they are willing to let other players score as long as Luka and Kyrie don’t find their rhythm.

“I think there’s a focus on us,” Doncic said after the game. “They collapsed the paint very well. When we will drive it, they collapse the paint… almost five guys. I think that’s been difficult for us. We just gotta find open teammates.”

Irving echoed a similar sentiment when discussing the Thunder’s gameplan against Doncic and himself.

“We’re making the right basketball plays right now,” Irving said. “I’m seeing three in front of the ball every time I come off the screen, pretty much blitzing me, pretty much telling me to get off the ball. With Luka, they’re telling (Luguentz) Dort to stay attached to his body, stay aggressive, stay physical. When you’re in the height of a semifinals playoff series, it’s gonna be a little bit different than the regular season. For us, it’s just about picking the right spots.”

Irving understands that the Mavericks need their stars to continue being aggressive. He also knows that Doncic and himself can help each other out.

“Continuing to stay aggressive. You know, making sure we play off each other… I think sometimes I can help Luka, he can help me. We create easy opportunities for ourselves when we’re doing that as a team…. I gotta give credit to my teammates. They’ve been carrying not only me, but Luka in this series so far. We’re looking forward to Games Five and Six.”

Kyrie Irving’s message: “Don’t panic”

Irving has played in no shortage of postseason series. He is more than aware that a 2-2 series is not the end of the world. Irving shared a positive message after Monday’s defeat.

“Don’t panic and just stay poised,” Irving said. “It’s not time to have irrational emotions towards a game like tonight… We had the game pretty much in our hands and in control and then down the stretch we just didn’t make enough of the clutch plays… As one of the leaders of the team, it’s definitely part of my responsibility to take my accountability for what I did. How I can improve moving forward.

“In terms of how our team played, I feel like we played well enough to get the W tonight the majority of the game. But we just didn’t finish the job and the little things matter.”

The Mavericks will attempt to bounce back on Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.