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‘This isn’t working’: Kyrie Irving’s partnership with Luka Doncic is FAILING on the Dallas Mavericks, says Skip Bayless, after the guard missed a game-winning 3-pointer in a loss to the Pacers on Tuesday night.
With only five games left in their partnership in Dallas, things aren’t going to plan for Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic as the pair fell to 1-4 together after a deflating loss at home Tuesday against the Pacers.
The game was within reach for the Mavericks in the final seconds as they trailed Indiana by just two, but Irving saw his step-back 3-pointer resound off the front rim as his team fell 124-122.
The missed shot was the latest in a difficult night for Irving, who shot just 7-for-18 from the field, and the viability of him and Doncic as a duo has already been called into question by Fox Sports commentator Skip Bayless.
‘On a final play clearly requested by Kyrie, 2 down, he took AND MISSED all 3 to win, defended by Indy’s McConnell. Luka just looked,” he wrote on Twitter.
‘He can’t love the new room [quarter] pecking order Before tonight, in their games [with] Kyrie, Luka had made 10 shots in the quarter against Kyrie’s 33. THIS DOES NOT WORK.
Luka Doncic comforts Kyrie Irving after he missed all three potential game winners on Tuesday
Irving admitted after the game that he needs to ‘cut it down a bit’ on offense alongside Doncic.
While Doncic and Irving are two of the best offensive guards in the league, Bayless is right to point out how the pair have spread the shots among themselves.
Between his time in Brooklyn and his seven games so far in Dallas, Irving leads the league this season in fourth-quarter scoring at 9.6 per game, which is more than 35 percent of his 26.7 per night.
On the Nets, he often served as the team’s main source of offense early in the fourth quarter while Kevin Durant rested.
Meanwhile, Doncic is second in the league behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo in usage rate (38.1 percent), a figure that was even higher and led the league early in the season. Irving ranks 19th in the league in use even after spending much of the season alongside Durant.
On paper, Irving’s otherworldly scoring skills should help Dallas, but even he admitted the fit alongside Doncic hasn’t been perfect thus far.
“I really want to win here, I really put a lot of pressure on myself, sometimes I think I need to cut it down a bit,” he said after the match.
Skip Bayless has already stated that the Irving-Doncic duo ‘does not work’ after the defeat
Doncic has the second-highest usage rate in the league and will have to adjust to Irving
“I just have to focus on being the best I can be and showing myself, not only for Luka but also for my teammates.”
Also, it doesn’t help Dallas’ cause that Irving and Doncic are known as poor defenders.
In their five games together, the Mavericks have a defensive rating of 121.0, tied for 22nd in the league over that span.
That mark would be the worst in the league all season.
With the loss to Dallas on Tuesday, the team fell to 32-31, now No. 7 in the West and currently in the play-in tournament.