Kyrie Irving has brutal assessment of Mavericks after ugly loss

Kyrie Irving is not giving anyone much reason to be optimistic about the Dallas Mavericks this season with his comments following the team’s season opener.

The Mavericks were blown out 128-110 by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at Toyota Center in Houston, Tex. The final score does not tell just how much of a mauling the game was, as the Mavericks trailed 70-38 at halftime after being outscored 38-12 in the second quarter.

Irving did not hold back after the game, and immediately questioned the team’s effort.

“The effort, just horrendous,” Irving said of the team’s second quarter meltdown. “I don’t want to use that graphic word to negatively put it on just one person or even myself. We were horrendous defensively and when you score 12 points in an NBA game, give up 38, it’s going to look like that.”

The Mavericks were not expected to be high-end contenders this season, but the consensus was that they could challenge for a play-in spot in the Western Conference. Hearing such brutal comments about the team’s effort after just one game might call even that into question.

Irving is the veteran anchor of a largely young and inexperienced Dallas roster, so he is sending a message here in his own way. Of course, if certain trade rumors are to be believed, he might not be around all year to offer such feedback.