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Tim McMahon, ESPN Staff Writer
DALLAS — One detail about the buzzer-beater that gave Kyrie Irving the second win of his career surprised the eight-time All-Star guard.
“I thought we were a little closer in the paint, but I looked after the game and it was a lot further away,” said Irving, who swung a contested left hook to give the Dallas Mavericks a 107-105 victory Sunday afternoon. Ta. against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The exact distance of the buzzer beater was 20.1 feet, according to Second Spectrum tracking. This is the second-longest hook shot by a player this season, according to NBA.com play-by-play data.
“Kyrie's shot was outrageous,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. The Nuggets finished with a record of 47 wins and 21 losses, falling a half-game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for first place in the Western Conference. “Give him all the credit.”
Longest hook of the season? This one also came from Irving, who hit a one-in from the top of the key against the Portland Trail Blazers on January 3rd. The right-handed shot was actually a fluke, an errant lob pass to center Derek Lively II that luckily ended up in the hoop.
Irving took credit for this remarkable game-winner by practicing for hours in the gym, which resulted in him being mopped by Mavericks teammates and minority owner Mark Cuban in the half court. . This season, he made 38 of 87 left-handed shots, many of them difficult finishes in the paint. The average distance of these southpaw attempts was 4.7 feet, with the longest distance being 15 feet, according to Second Spectrum tracking.
But for Irving, who had 24 points and nine assists in the win, it might have made sense for Irving to curl into a baseline screen and catch an inbounds pass from Maxi Kleber with 2.8 seconds left before unleashing a left hook. unknown. When Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic switched on him, Irving took two hard left-handed dribbles toward the elbow, creating enough space for a hook shot.
“Well, a lot of it is instinctual and comes from preparing for a time when no one is going to see you,” Irving said. “I saw Jokic take my pull-up to the left. I knew he was going to come up, but I didn't know he would commit like that. So he pushed me inside the 3-point line. As soon as I felt him behind me, I thought, oh, I have a left hand, it's wide open, why don't I go there?”
It was a buzzer-beater that even awed his Mavs co-star Luka Doncic, the NBA scoring leader who has a reputation for making ridiculously difficult shots.
“That shot was unbelievable,” said Doncic, who scored 37 points in his return game after missing Thursday's game against the Thunder with a sore left hamstring. “I couldn't believe it.”
On a rare off day for Jokic, who had 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting and 7 assists, Dallas led the Mavs by 13 points with 6 points after Irving assisted on Doncic's layup, their largest lead of the afternoon. was stolen. 50 pieces left. The Nuggets rallied and took the lead on Jamal Murray's tie-breaking three with 27.1 seconds left.
Doncic tied it again on the possession after a timeout with a 29-foot-3 catch-and-shoot off an inbounds pass.
“I give him a lot of credit for putting me in that position and allowing me to get that game-winning goal at the end,” Irving said of Doncic.
The Mavs ran the same inbounds play out of a timeout after Murray missed a midrange pull-up. Nuggets shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope denied Doncic at the top of the arc, so Kleber read Irving had the advantage and made the pass.
“He is very talented and gifted. [with] “That's what he does because he can use both hands and he makes crazy plays like that, but it was still an unbelievable shot, so of course I was a little shocked when the shot went in,” Kleber said. I guess so.''
After the shot went in, Irving reacted by strutting toward a rushing teammate and glancing exaggeratedly at his left hand, celebrating what could be a pivotal moment in Dallas' attempt to avoid a play-in scenario. Ta. The Mavs (39 wins, 29 losses), who have won five of six games, are a percentage behind the Sacramento Kings (38 wins, 28 losses), who are in sixth place in the West Division standings.
“He's a magician,” Mavs center Daniel Gafford said. “He's a very crafty finisher, but does he finish that far from the basket? I don't know if he's working on things like that, but I know he's working on his left hand. We went in and from then on we were just hooked.''
