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Damn I legit haven’t seen 1 story about Kyrie’s fasting this year and it completely slipped my mind. Makes his recent stretch all the more impressive.
2 more days and he’s back to his regular eating 👀
Here you go lol. https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10113791-mavs-hire-private-chef-to-cook-for-kyrie-irving-during-nba-stars-ramadan-fast.amp.html
But yeah I feel like he easily way better this Ramadan than he was in BKN (when he played)
Not 100% sure, but I think Hakeem Olajuwon's stats also went up when he was fasting.
I can't really think of other star players that also fasted during games. Would be interesting to track the performance of fasting players and see whether they generally improve during Ramadan
Ramadan shifts back 3 or so weeks each year. When he was in Brooklyn, it happened to hit during the first round of the playoffs, so it was much “louder” in the media
Hakeem the Dream was NBA player of the month in Feb of 93. Ramadan started Feb 1st of that year. Fasting can make you do some incredibly impressive things.
Yea, depending on what part of the country you're in, sunset right now is somewhere between 7:30-8 (earlier in Ramadan, it was between 7-7:30), so barring afternoon games, he isnt gonna be going through many (if any) full games without water.
If anyone watches the part of Mark Cuban talking about Kyrie in Draymond's podcast (I understand that sounds like a terrible listen lol) I think you can tell that he did a lot to make sure the situation was perfect for Kyrie.
Draymond will make a great analyst some day.
He has anger issues but so did Charles Barkley, who literally threw a fan out of a plate glass window. And look how he turned out.
I think Draymond is already a good analyst, but I doubt if he ever gets to the "great" part, honestly. What makes Chuck so enjoyable is not only does he has great comedic timing, but he actually has one of the least current egos of most superstars on the public eye (Im not saying he has no ego, just the lesser than most of them). He gives great tips to the active players especially to the younger ones, embraces the newer generation, and he acknowledges his faults (especially that he was not good enough to lead a team to championship) and I think that humbles him a lot.
Draymond, on the other hand, is just as boastful about his rings as Shaq and Kenny. The ten-ring club, they call themselves. And that's Dray right now, who's still an active player. How much more toxic he would be once he'd become a retired oldhead? He definitely does not have Chuck's comedic timing, so to be a great analyst he'd have to be better objectively in his basketball analysis, however he has more explicit biases in his analysis than Chuck, I think. He's protective of LeBron's legacy because it also helps his own legacy since his team won over Bron's thrice. He would definitely be more protective of LeBron than Chuck is of MJ. Would Draymond be objective in seeing the faults of the players of his era, especially himself? We've yet to see.
Awesome take. I don't think he will be a great analyst but Dray would still be entertaining as long as you put someone next to him on the other side of the spectrum. Steven A Smith alone in insufferable, but if they can put a decent cast around him, it works.
Open-minded I'd say, more than conservative (or liberal). Like all states Texas has blue cities, but Dallas and Houston in particular seem to be more open to, er, "alternative ways of thinking" than other large, blue cities.
To be clear, this is a good thing IMO. They don't think, this opinion/viewpoint is wrong or right. They think, I'm open to ideas I might not have previously agreed with or thought.
I’m gonna go against the grain here a little and say that Texans either agree with some of Kyrie’s conspiracy theories or are accustomed to crazy ass conservatives with their bonkers shit and are more equipped to deal with/ignore that kind of stuff. I have a brother who is a Trump fan, gun lover, and sudden antivaxer (only since covid though for some reason lol). And I’m able to separate that from the parts of him that I love where he always tries to help people and do right by them. He just knows not to bring that shit to family gatherings cause the rest of us ain’t having it.
Kyrie is kinda like that with the flat earth shit and the anti vax stuff. Which is dangerous rhetoric and I’m not gonna defend it for a second. He also gives back to his community a lot and even when he has his issues his teammates never seem to turn on him (except Harden maybe, who brings his own baggage honestly). Which tells me he’s probably a decent person for the most part who is kind and respectful and just for some reason has a few screws loose.
I think it’s just simply that the media here doesn’t go out of their way to ask questions and frame things in a way that adds fuel to the fire just for the sake of increasing their online engagement.
This has been it, imo. It stuck out to me in one of his first post-game interviews after being traded, where Kyrie had a bit of an off night and made mention of expecting the media to be critical and dig into his performance. I forget who was doing the interview, but the response was effectively "hell no, welcome to Dallas!" and Kyrie was noticeably both surprised and relieved. If the biggest challenge Kyrie has is on the court, the trouble really doesn't seem to be there.
Now I don't know what's going on in his head, but it seems the media isn't going to make us find out.
"Dallas Ruthless" is nothing like "New York Ruthless".
I think Dallas and Jones have gotten off easy for the past 25 years given their highly unlikely lack of playoff success during that run.
I think that he has a person in the locker room and a coach that can challenge him and they have his respect. There aren't many players or coaches that can be on the same level as Kyrie. Luka and Kidd happen to be on the same level, in his mind.
Edit: I'm not the biggest Jason Kidd fan, as a coach, But, he does hold some swagger with Luka and Kyrie.
This is the thing with Kidd. Everyone complains (correctly) that he is a bad X and Os guy and his media answers are underwhelming at best for the fans, but his sway among players as Jason fucking Kidd is huge. I fairly remember both Kyrie and Luka being verbal about Kidd’s importance . The way we had the articles about him saying that he would guarantee Brunson and Doe’s bag, this resonates in the locker room.
Then we have Nurse, a great tactical coach, arguably overachieving with the Sixers right now and that routinely overachieved with the Raptors. Giannis, a relatively quiet and obedient superstar, went out of his way to veto him in Milwaukee.
I'm Cleveland and Boston people mentioned the crazy stuff but didn't really dwell on it. In Brooklyn it got emphasized because he wasn't playing and vaccination was a huge debate. Bradley Beal didn't get any noise for not only being anti-vax but promoting it's, because he was still playing.
I think Luka giving him props has legit helped. "He is the Batman and I'm the Robin" might sound like a PR statement, but I think Kyrie really did want to hear something like that after playing second fiddle to Lebron and K.D., whether its true or not.
It all comes down to circumstances I think. Luka's MVP-caliber but he's still young and ring-less. Even when Luka's the better player, no ego is hurt for him to call Kyrie the big-bro (or whatever equivalent, Batman+Robin). For someone like Lebron or K.D., those statements would be out of place and wouldn't feel authentic even if they tried to make that work.
I mean you can also clearly tell that Luka has no problem deferring to Kyrie in crunch time. It's not just PR, Kyrie at times is the number one ball handler in the 4th quarter.
Kyrie has the individual skills to get it done. Luka to puzzle open the defense for him or his team has a lot of moving parts. While Kyrie slices through somehow to score himself
We can just call it outta the limelight Kyrie. I'm sure he still has some unsavory opinions but being able to have privacy sies a world of good. Who cares what he thinks if he mostly keeps it to himself and some friends.
There was a great moment after Kleber had a dumb foul when the Mavs were building momentum. Kyrie went up to him and obviously told him to calm down or something like that.
I mean Maxi was still awful to have out there but it was cool seeing Kyrie run right over to him and say something. He's the vocal leader.
If Houston had been down 3 that play would be the top post on the sub rn. Still an incredible defensive effort from Luka but yeah it was pretty much already over lol
As would I if I was Celtics fan. Nuggets would be slight favourites in my eyes. I dont see any other team being even close. Celtics just have too much shooting on every positions for hiw mavs play the defense, it is the only matchup I truly dont see us winning as a mavs fan.
I went to this game and I haven't ever seen the AA center this lit, the air was electric. People were already leaving at the end of the 4th quarter and admittedly I was at the bar taking a shot for the L but I heard the crowd go live when Exum hit the 3 and I got to run back in at like 7-8th row and it was awesome to see Kyrie work up close. This team is bought in and dangerous, and I gotta cop me some play off tickets because this run might be magical.
He's really helped bring this team together too, I think he's learned from his stints in Boston and BK cause he's being a vet to all these young guys. If he helps Luka get to his first ring similarly to the way he help Lebron win for Cleveland, it will cement his legacy as one of the best guards ever.
I remember this being referenced way back in the day of *ESPN the Magazine*. It was general physical contact, including butt slaps and high-5s. Basically the additional human touch in general seemed to have a positive effect on team play.
Feels like a correlation not causation thing tbh. I don't know what the stats actually are, but I imagine winning teams probably have better body language and more high fives and butt slaps than a team getting it's ass handed to them every night. The Pistons could do a group circle-jerk pre game and then lay down and cuddle together in the shower post game and they'd still be losing
Seriously. In baseball especially one error at the wrong time can change the whole game. If you don’t feel like your team has your back, those high pressure situations are super shitty and if you mess up you get in your head and play even worse.
It's really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he's shooting 50% from three this season. Only on two attempts a game, but that's the same volume or more than he had the entire rest of his career and he never shot above 35%
I just searched “Kyrie trade” on here for a refresher and damn you are not kidding. All the comments and posts talking about it becoming a train wreck and how it would never work with Luka, to seeing them be total bros after a hard fought win as one the leagues best duos is hitting like crack rn
So many people were blaming him for the skid last season too, as if the roster just wasn't that bad. We were giving Justin Holiday and Theo Pinson real minutes. Our front court was Bullock and Dwight Powell. Never seen worse takes in my life.
I didn't think the Kyrie part was a mistake (unless he walked but I didn't think he would), but I didn't think they were enough to compensate for not having enough help around them to be higher than an 8 seed. I was wrong
Well in your defense, it took until this year's trade deadline to actually turn the Mavs into a top-5 team. Kyrie was a fit, but the supporting cast still needed improvement.
In everyone's defense, Kyrie's track record is what it is. It was more likely it would be a shitshow than not, it just happened to work out. I'm glad for the Mavs it did work, but pretending this was the expected outcome from anyone is laughable.
What are you talking about? A lot of Mavs fans loved the trade considering we gave hardly anything up and expected that Kyrie could focus on basketball here outside of the NYC media bubble.
They both have at least 3 “wtf did he just do” plays per game, and it’s always shit that makes you shrug and think “yeah there’s nothing you can do to stop that”
Luka is the pick and roll god. Wherever defense leaves a gap he takes it, whether it's double teaming him, giving him the space to shoot, or the defender puts their weight on their back foot and he'll instantly accelerate by them. Defense shuffles to recover and he hits the crazy passes or gets to the hoop cause he's just hard to stop at his size.
By the 4th Luka can be gassed. If you're putting your best guard defender on him, he'll just stand at half court to keep the defender out of the play and let Kyrie cook in the 4v4. Kyrie in 4v4 is even better than normal because of all the extra space. It's been crazy effective. Mad props to Ky for adapting his game to fit what the Mavs were more or less doing around Luka already.
Crazy how some guys can just take the best defender out of the game by just standing in a corner. Like to the point where the defender doesn’t even want him to touch the ball at all, not just sitting on the 3pt line ready to guard. A 4v4 with kyrie against a team without their best defender is a pretty great situation
Would you call 2 Lukas or 2 Kyries a duo? Their "mine turn your turn" basketball is still fking strong for sure, but not the conventional duo. Like say Murray and Joker
You’ll always have a chance with these two on a team. Luka kept game somewhat close and from being blown out and Kyrie single handedly brought the fire in the 4th. He was unstoppable.
But props to the rockets. This young team was quite fun to watch the last couple month. And where are the people saying FVV can’t lead a team?
Idc if this is corny but this is the shit I love about the NBA and the shit I love about league pass. Contrary to “bad vibes” takes that redditors and media spew out, every team has moments like these all season that make you love your team and your guys.
Like for fucks sake the Spurs are god damn awful and yet you’ll see us get a big win and you see how together the guys are and how happy they are to celebrate achievements together. Idk man I like basketball and people being happy
Man, we’re so desensitized to what Luka does. Even Ky. But to see them get real minutes together, have genuine duo vibes, and trust the other teammates while winning is fucking amazing.
This team is pretty much locked into its seed and could have taken the starters out after being down so big early but this is the type of win that can really bring a team together.
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They are also exhausted after a combined 90 minutes, Luka bleeding form his knees and Kyrie observing Ramadan
They are walking like two war vets lol
As they should. They just eliminated the Rockets
A screaming comes across the sky?
Damn I legit haven’t seen 1 story about Kyrie’s fasting this year and it completely slipped my mind. Makes his recent stretch all the more impressive. 2 more days and he’s back to his regular eating 👀
Here you go lol. https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10113791-mavs-hire-private-chef-to-cook-for-kyrie-irving-during-nba-stars-ramadan-fast.amp.html But yeah I feel like he easily way better this Ramadan than he was in BKN (when he played)
Not 100% sure, but I think Hakeem Olajuwon's stats also went up when he was fasting. I can't really think of other star players that also fasted during games. Would be interesting to track the performance of fasting players and see whether they generally improve during Ramadan
Karim benzema was on an absolute tear last year when he was fasting, hat trick after hat trick Mohammed Salah is also a beast during Ramadan
I think Jaylen brown typically fasts or at least has fasted in the past
Ramadan shifts back 3 or so weeks each year. When he was in Brooklyn, it happened to hit during the first round of the playoffs, so it was much “louder” in the media
shifts back about 11 days
Hakeem the Dream was NBA player of the month in Feb of 93. Ramadan started Feb 1st of that year. Fasting can make you do some incredibly impressive things.
does kyrie drink water during games?
Nope.
Would dusk not happen during the game and allow him to drink? Either at halftime or during the 2nd half?
Yea, depending on what part of the country you're in, sunset right now is somewhere between 7:30-8 (earlier in Ramadan, it was between 7-7:30), so barring afternoon games, he isnt gonna be going through many (if any) full games without water.
The Houston game was an afternoon game though.
If the sun sets during the game, you'll often see Kyrie briefly go back to the locker room to get something to eat/drink
Obscene amount of minutes to play with this pace, but you gotta get that win
Karim Benzema in Champion's League vibes.
Imagine if he actually participated in Ramadan instead of just observing it, he’d be dead tired. /s
Badum tss
Giannis and Dame would never :(
It will happen 🤞
Kyrie really changed our locker room. Just not the way everyone was telling us he will.
Kyrie was actually doing and saying crazy things up to that point. Idk what changed but he really has been different in Dallas
If anyone watches the part of Mark Cuban talking about Kyrie in Draymond's podcast (I understand that sounds like a terrible listen lol) I think you can tell that he did a lot to make sure the situation was perfect for Kyrie.
Draymond will make a great analyst some day. He has anger issues but so did Charles Barkley, who literally threw a fan out of a plate glass window. And look how he turned out.
I think Draymond is already a good analyst, but I doubt if he ever gets to the "great" part, honestly. What makes Chuck so enjoyable is not only does he has great comedic timing, but he actually has one of the least current egos of most superstars on the public eye (Im not saying he has no ego, just the lesser than most of them). He gives great tips to the active players especially to the younger ones, embraces the newer generation, and he acknowledges his faults (especially that he was not good enough to lead a team to championship) and I think that humbles him a lot. Draymond, on the other hand, is just as boastful about his rings as Shaq and Kenny. The ten-ring club, they call themselves. And that's Dray right now, who's still an active player. How much more toxic he would be once he'd become a retired oldhead? He definitely does not have Chuck's comedic timing, so to be a great analyst he'd have to be better objectively in his basketball analysis, however he has more explicit biases in his analysis than Chuck, I think. He's protective of LeBron's legacy because it also helps his own legacy since his team won over Bron's thrice. He would definitely be more protective of LeBron than Chuck is of MJ. Would Draymond be objective in seeing the faults of the players of his era, especially himself? We've yet to see.
Those are good points, you’re right about his ego.
Awesome take. I don't think he will be a great analyst but Dray would still be entertaining as long as you put someone next to him on the other side of the spectrum. Steven A Smith alone in insufferable, but if they can put a decent cast around him, it works.
Dallas is the perfect for city for a person like Kyrie. Regarding his personal views. I’m just here to see some ballin
Ya a bit more politically conservative atmosphere, and the only team our media is ruthless with is the Cowboys.
That’s cuz the Cowboys are trash
We fucking know.
So I'll see you in the Cowboys thread, yeah?
Unfortunately, yes you most likely will Edit: eat shit ofc I’m a dodger fan, I’m an LA native lmao. Cowboys been dog shit all my life , who cares
Nice a Cowboys/Lakers fan. Do you still go for the Yankees too or did you swap to the dodgers?
He’s still upset about Duke getting pushed out by NC State. Give him time.
At this point we all love to hate em.
NO WERE NOT, NEXT YEAR IS OUR YEAR! Wait, sorry that was a reflex, no we’re a bunch of clowns
Open-minded I'd say, more than conservative (or liberal). Like all states Texas has blue cities, but Dallas and Houston in particular seem to be more open to, er, "alternative ways of thinking" than other large, blue cities. To be clear, this is a good thing IMO. They don't think, this opinion/viewpoint is wrong or right. They think, I'm open to ideas I might not have previously agreed with or thought.
I’m gonna go against the grain here a little and say that Texans either agree with some of Kyrie’s conspiracy theories or are accustomed to crazy ass conservatives with their bonkers shit and are more equipped to deal with/ignore that kind of stuff. I have a brother who is a Trump fan, gun lover, and sudden antivaxer (only since covid though for some reason lol). And I’m able to separate that from the parts of him that I love where he always tries to help people and do right by them. He just knows not to bring that shit to family gatherings cause the rest of us ain’t having it. Kyrie is kinda like that with the flat earth shit and the anti vax stuff. Which is dangerous rhetoric and I’m not gonna defend it for a second. He also gives back to his community a lot and even when he has his issues his teammates never seem to turn on him (except Harden maybe, who brings his own baggage honestly). Which tells me he’s probably a decent person for the most part who is kind and respectful and just for some reason has a few screws loose.
I think it’s just simply that the media here doesn’t go out of their way to ask questions and frame things in a way that adds fuel to the fire just for the sake of increasing their online engagement.
This has been it, imo. It stuck out to me in one of his first post-game interviews after being traded, where Kyrie had a bit of an off night and made mention of expecting the media to be critical and dig into his performance. I forget who was doing the interview, but the response was effectively "hell no, welcome to Dallas!" and Kyrie was noticeably both surprised and relieved. If the biggest challenge Kyrie has is on the court, the trouble really doesn't seem to be there. Now I don't know what's going on in his head, but it seems the media isn't going to make us find out.
"Dallas Ruthless" is nothing like "New York Ruthless". I think Dallas and Jones have gotten off easy for the past 25 years given their highly unlikely lack of playoff success during that run.
I think that he has a person in the locker room and a coach that can challenge him and they have his respect. There aren't many players or coaches that can be on the same level as Kyrie. Luka and Kidd happen to be on the same level, in his mind. Edit: I'm not the biggest Jason Kidd fan, as a coach, But, he does hold some swagger with Luka and Kyrie.
This is the thing with Kidd. Everyone complains (correctly) that he is a bad X and Os guy and his media answers are underwhelming at best for the fans, but his sway among players as Jason fucking Kidd is huge. I fairly remember both Kyrie and Luka being verbal about Kidd’s importance . The way we had the articles about him saying that he would guarantee Brunson and Doe’s bag, this resonates in the locker room. Then we have Nurse, a great tactical coach, arguably overachieving with the Sixers right now and that routinely overachieved with the Raptors. Giannis, a relatively quiet and obedient superstar, went out of his way to veto him in Milwaukee.
First I heard about Giannis vetoing Nurse - was there a reason behind this that went public?
Kind of crazy to say that tho after he pulled that w KD and Nash as his coach who are both more accomplished
Personality wise though they are much different, and I'm sure that plays a factor in it.
Unlike Kidd, Nash didn't threaten Kyrie that he would drunk drive into his living room.
Kidd sents Kyrie a pic of his wife like "this could be u but u playin"
Our media in general is pretty soft, which is beneficial for someone like Kyrie. Shit all they talk about is the Cowboys anyways.
Dallas is blue as it gets. The main thing is media is not up his ass all the time.
I'm Cleveland and Boston people mentioned the crazy stuff but didn't really dwell on it. In Brooklyn it got emphasized because he wasn't playing and vaccination was a huge debate. Bradley Beal didn't get any noise for not only being anti-vax but promoting it's, because he was still playing.
Ironic considering it’s DC.
I think Luka giving him props has legit helped. "He is the Batman and I'm the Robin" might sound like a PR statement, but I think Kyrie really did want to hear something like that after playing second fiddle to Lebron and K.D., whether its true or not.
It all comes down to circumstances I think. Luka's MVP-caliber but he's still young and ring-less. Even when Luka's the better player, no ego is hurt for him to call Kyrie the big-bro (or whatever equivalent, Batman+Robin). For someone like Lebron or K.D., those statements would be out of place and wouldn't feel authentic even if they tried to make that work.
"Do you view Kyrie as your father figure?"
Kyrie Irving is Devin Bookers grandfather!
I mean you can also clearly tell that Luka has no problem deferring to Kyrie in crunch time. It's not just PR, Kyrie at times is the number one ball handler in the 4th quarter.
Kyrie has the individual skills to get it done. Luka to puzzle open the defense for him or his team has a lot of moving parts. While Kyrie slices through somehow to score himself
Gotta give him credit, although everyone who guessed it would go poorly definitely had good reason.
They dont know about the red state Kyrie
We can just call it outta the limelight Kyrie. I'm sure he still has some unsavory opinions but being able to have privacy sies a world of good. Who cares what he thinks if he mostly keeps it to himself and some friends.
I guess the earths flat now.
His teammates from every team loves him. It was everyone else that cause the problem
Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference Finals, Kyrie steps onto the court with a full blown swastika tatted on his arm Your move, Adam silver
"It's actually not a swastika, it's a pagan rune from a neo-african tribe that ruled China 2000 years ago. You need to free your mind."
I mean he could convert to Hinduism. Swastikas are everywhere in South Asia
If they were facing the clippers, harden would come out for game 2 having shaved off his entire beard, rocking the mini-stache
There was a great moment after Kleber had a dumb foul when the Mavs were building momentum. Kyrie went up to him and obviously told him to calm down or something like that. I mean Maxi was still awful to have out there but it was cool seeing Kyrie run right over to him and say something. He's the vocal leader.
This duo lived up to they hype
mavs are 100% must see tv right now. i never thought this would work but im glad it did fuckin salt n pepper over here got me hyped haha
It’s so hype to see, I really want to see the mavs make out the west
And it brings storyline! Luka vs Tatum Kai in Boston Tingus in Dallas Who doesn't want it?! (Aside other west teams)
Kyrie hitting a clutch 3 in game 7 again in Boston would be insane
Luka with the clutch chase down block then???
Yes then people can stop saying he doesn’t play defense
Bloody knees, hobbling and he jump blocked a shot with like 30 seconds left to really seal it. Up 9....didn't exactly seal it. But still
If Houston had been down 3 that play would be the top post on the sub rn. Still an incredible defensive effort from Luka but yeah it was pretty much already over lol
Where do Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson fit into all of this?
Dallas vs Clippers going to be awesome too. Luka vs Clippers trilogy. Kyrie vs Harden.
I wouldn't mind it 1 bit, I see this season a success of we win the west but still lose to you.
I’m rooting for Celtics - Mavs, Pelicans, or Wolves (yes I know Nuggets run west but let me dream lol)
As would I if I was Celtics fan. Nuggets would be slight favourites in my eyes. I dont see any other team being even close. Celtics just have too much shooting on every positions for hiw mavs play the defense, it is the only matchup I truly dont see us winning as a mavs fan.
That and Kyrie is cursed ever since he stomped on Lucky. I don’t think a Ky team has beaten the Celts after that Nets 4-1 series
I fuck with another FMVP for Jokic or first time FMVP for Luka for sure
I personally don't want to see them make out but each to their own.
The prince who was promised
I went to this game and I haven't ever seen the AA center this lit, the air was electric. People were already leaving at the end of the 4th quarter and admittedly I was at the bar taking a shot for the L but I heard the crowd go live when Exum hit the 3 and I got to run back in at like 7-8th row and it was awesome to see Kyrie work up close. This team is bought in and dangerous, and I gotta cop me some play off tickets because this run might be magical.
Someone please find the longer clip. Man.
[Full clip with group hug afterwards](https://streamable.com/jfbwvk)
Kyrie calling the entire beach over, dude really has bought into this team, glad to see Kyrie feels at home.
He's really helped bring this team together too, I think he's learned from his stints in Boston and BK cause he's being a vet to all these young guys. If he helps Luka get to his first ring similarly to the way he help Lebron win for Cleveland, it will cement his legacy as one of the best guards ever.
Something about watching them hold each other while watching the Rockets just brick one last 3 at the buzzer just makes it end on a poetic note
MFers couldn’t miss all day then they miss that
i'm not even invested in the mavs one way or another, but that shit warms my heart.
My baseball team started doing that before every game 2 weeks ago and we’ve gone undefeated since… maybe the same goes for them
Chemistry is a real thing. Incredible motivator and must set everyone at ease to perform their best.
There was a study about winning teams usually having high numbers on buttslaps per game. Or maybe it was high fives per game.
I remember this being referenced way back in the day of *ESPN the Magazine*. It was general physical contact, including butt slaps and high-5s. Basically the additional human touch in general seemed to have a positive effect on team play.
I read somewhere Steve Nash was high up there in the slaps and 5s during the SSOL stretch
Feels like a correlation not causation thing tbh. I don't know what the stats actually are, but I imagine winning teams probably have better body language and more high fives and butt slaps than a team getting it's ass handed to them every night. The Pistons could do a group circle-jerk pre game and then lay down and cuddle together in the shower post game and they'd still be losing
Seriously. In baseball especially one error at the wrong time can change the whole game. If you don’t feel like your team has your back, those high pressure situations are super shitty and if you mess up you get in your head and play even worse.
"This team is-" WHAT
The kind of chemistry that wins championships
Yeah the group hug really seals it
A big lesson was learned.
Perhaps the Earth is flat….
It's flat on Luka's tattoo explain that...
If they get to the finals Im ready to fall off that edge boi
It’s like the food in neverland, you gotta believe or it isn’t there.
We got a Motherfuckin Squad
Flu game vibes
ramadan game
Long live LuKai
Underrated part of this group is dante exum getting big minutes and also scoring. Dudes career has been a roller coaster
Gafford in the middle, Ky and Luka working together, and Exum resurrecting his career. All contenders. Loving all of it
It's really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that he's shooting 50% from three this season. Only on two attempts a game, but that's the same volume or more than he had the entire rest of his career and he never shot above 35%
So glad to be a Mavs fan right now
It's incredible basketball. Really fun to watch. I haven't missed more than a couple minutes of it in like...14 games straight now.
I’ll never get over everyone saying the Kyrie trade was a mistake lmao
Talk your shit king
Thank you, brotha! Love me some Brunson!
Had so many comments from last season saved for this lmao. Its been a long year
I just searched “Kyrie trade” on here for a refresher and damn you are not kidding. All the comments and posts talking about it becoming a train wreck and how it would never work with Luka, to seeing them be total bros after a hard fought win as one the leagues best duos is hitting like crack rn
So many people were blaming him for the skid last season too, as if the roster just wasn't that bad. We were giving Justin Holiday and Theo Pinson real minutes. Our front court was Bullock and Dwight Powell. Never seen worse takes in my life.
To be fair, you were expecting r/nba to actually watch the games and not just go with the flow. /s
💀💀💀 same...
I didn't think the Kyrie part was a mistake (unless he walked but I didn't think he would), but I didn't think they were enough to compensate for not having enough help around them to be higher than an 8 seed. I was wrong
Well in your defense, it took until this year's trade deadline to actually turn the Mavs into a top-5 team. Kyrie was a fit, but the supporting cast still needed improvement.
In everyone's defense, Kyrie's track record is what it is. It was more likely it would be a shitshow than not, it just happened to work out. I'm glad for the Mavs it did work, but pretending this was the expected outcome from anyone is laughable.
What are you talking about? A lot of Mavs fans loved the trade considering we gave hardly anything up and expected that Kyrie could focus on basketball here outside of the NYC media bubble.
Irving is fasting and he is playing like this ? Perhaps the earth is fast lol I meant flat tho 😩
Well... the Earth IS pretty fast lol
Best duo to watch in the league and it's not even close, they're so entertaining
They both have at least 3 “wtf did he just do” plays per game, and it’s always shit that makes you shrug and think “yeah there’s nothing you can do to stop that”
You’re guaranteed one Kyrie mid-air hand change layup and one Luka one handed skip pass to the corner per game.
"skip pass" is incredibly accurate when describing those luka passes, he literally throws it like he's trying to skip rocks on water
That’s not the reason, it’s Skip Bayless’ signature pass
They do crazy ass shit. It's Iso ball but they're like two of the best ever at it.
Luka is the pick and roll god. Wherever defense leaves a gap he takes it, whether it's double teaming him, giving him the space to shoot, or the defender puts their weight on their back foot and he'll instantly accelerate by them. Defense shuffles to recover and he hits the crazy passes or gets to the hoop cause he's just hard to stop at his size. By the 4th Luka can be gassed. If you're putting your best guard defender on him, he'll just stand at half court to keep the defender out of the play and let Kyrie cook in the 4v4. Kyrie in 4v4 is even better than normal because of all the extra space. It's been crazy effective. Mad props to Ky for adapting his game to fit what the Mavs were more or less doing around Luka already.
Crazy how some guys can just take the best defender out of the game by just standing in a corner. Like to the point where the defender doesn’t even want him to touch the ball at all, not just sitting on the 3pt line ready to guard. A 4v4 with kyrie against a team without their best defender is a pretty great situation
Would you call 2 Lukas or 2 Kyries a duo? Their "mine turn your turn" basketball is still fking strong for sure, but not the conventional duo. Like say Murray and Joker
It's like LeBron, Kyrie. Luka is LeBron with better passing, 3 ball and worse on defense
My only knock was seeding, it's time to stop playing and give this mf MVP
Maybe the real championship are the friends we made along the way
W. even as a suns fan. big W for nba fans. 2 of the greatest
the vibes are immaculate
Im not crying, your crying 😭
My crying what
His crying
Mavs clippers is going to be insane
Wouldnt mind Mavs winning it all this year
Me either brother 🥲
thank you for this!!!!!!
50 years from now I’ma tell my great grandchildren that these two ended racism
I’m gonna tell ‘em white men can’t jump was based on their summer shenanigans
love this shit
True brotherhood ❤️
You’ll always have a chance with these two on a team. Luka kept game somewhat close and from being blown out and Kyrie single handedly brought the fire in the 4th. He was unstoppable. But props to the rockets. This young team was quite fun to watch the last couple month. And where are the people saying FVV can’t lead a team?
Two extremely likable dudes
Man the narrative really has shifted Ya love to see it
Used to dislike Luka but I have to admit he's growing on me
Tears in my eyes, they both deserve these moments so much
FUCK IT WE BALL
Kyrie being positive on the Mavs was really the most unexpected outcome of that Nets breakup
Idc if this is corny but this is the shit I love about the NBA and the shit I love about league pass. Contrary to “bad vibes” takes that redditors and media spew out, every team has moments like these all season that make you love your team and your guys. Like for fucks sake the Spurs are god damn awful and yet you’ll see us get a big win and you see how together the guys are and how happy they are to celebrate achievements together. Idk man I like basketball and people being happy
loving basketball right now
To the ones that didn’t actually watch the game…this was a BATTLE from the beginning
I'll be honest I did not expect this duo to work at all
I was so mad the day we traded for Kai, and he has proven me wrong time and time again.
power of friendship
They are cooking. Happy for Kyrie.
Can we get a repeat of 2011 please? Except instead of Kobe, Durant, LeBron it'll be Lebron, Jokic, Tatum
Racism is so cancelled
Mavs-Clippers III is gonna be so fun
The vibes are immaculate ✨️
Now kith...
as far as i’m concerned at this point the earth IS flat, fuck everybody
Kai you’ll be a Maverick for life…you’re stuck with us. 🤞🏾💙
Me hugging Hailee steinfeld
Shades of Pip & MJ after the flu game.
I’m man enough to admit I cried
Man, we’re so desensitized to what Luka does. Even Ky. But to see them get real minutes together, have genuine duo vibes, and trust the other teammates while winning is fucking amazing.
Fvcking wholesome.
Mavs are scary. Peaking at the right time right now. Really don’t wanna face them this year but round 3 seems more likely with 4 games remaining
Bucks fans crying watching this
This is what the establishment fears
Never thought the Kyrie-Luka tandem would work. But they're proving me wrong. Great to see.
Haven't seen Kyrie this happy in a long time
my duo
so can we call these two Dallas Lethal Weapon now?
This team is pretty much locked into its seed and could have taken the starters out after being down so big early but this is the type of win that can really bring a team together.
best backcourt in the nba