‘The Human Element Hit Me’: Kyrie Irving Returns For Dallas Mavericks After 597 Days, Scores 15 In Loss To Houston Rockets
HOUSTON — Kyrie Irving played his first regular-season game in 597 days Wednesday night and scored 15 points for the Dallas Mavericks in a 128-110 loss to the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.
Irving went 6-of-9 from the field, 1-of-4 from 3-point range, and 2-of-2 at the line in 23:45. He finished with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers.
The last time Irving played in a regular-season game was March 3, 2025, when he tore the ACL in his left knee nearly 10 minutes into a game against the Sacramento Kings. He missed the final 20 games of that season and all of 2025-26, when Dallas went 26-56 and Cooper Flagg was named the NBA Rookie of the Year.
In June 2025, Irving declined his $43 million player option and agreed to a three-year, $119 million contract with Dallas. He signed the deal that summer, and it carries a player option for 2027-28.
Irving said at Mavericks media day on Sept. 25 that he had no physical restrictions from the injury. He made his preseason debut on Oct. 11 against Houston in Macao and scored 17 points in 22 minutes in a 132-115 win. After resting Oct. 14 against the New Orleans Pelicans, he played in the Oct. 16 preseason finale against the Atlanta Hawks, his first home game since the injury.
Irving is 34 and in his 16th NBA season. The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him first overall in 2011, and he is a nine-time All-Star.
In 2024-25, before the injury, Irving averaged 24.7 points and 4.6 assists while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.1% from 3-point range. Before Wednesday, he had averaged 25.5 points in 128 regular-season games with Dallas.
Kyrie Irving On Nerves In His First Regular-Season Game Since March 2025
The human element hit Irving on the opening tip, he said. At times, he had to settle in and ground himself.
“Just the human element hit me, man. I was like, man, I’m back in the NBA game, and I’m getting double teamed, or I’m seeing Alperen Şengün coming up here and trying to get the ball out of my hands,” Irving said. “… And it’s just the adjustment period. And there were times where mentally I was out there and I just had to settle in and ground myself. Like I’m really back in the NBA game, back into the flow of things.”
Irving guarded Fred VanVleet on the opening tip. VanVleet was playing his own first regular-season game since tearing his right ACL before the 2025-26 season, and he finished with 6 points and 11 assists.
Irving’s body felt a little looser than normal when the ball went up. He could not say for sure whether it was nerves, he said.
“Even when the ball was tipped when I was guarding Fred, I was just, my body felt just a little bit looser than normal, just, I don’t know what you can really attribute to, maybe it is nerves and anxiety or anxiousness. But I think it’s just more or less like the mental approach,” Irving continued. “You’re going out there, you just want everything to go right. And tonight, a lot of things did go right, but a lot of things did go wrong. I think you kind of got to laugh at it, but also the seriousness of being a competitor.”
The teams split two preseason games in Macao, with Houston winning 135-117 on Oct. 9 and Dallas winning 132-115 two days later.
“I want to play perfect every game, even though it’s damn near impossible. But you look around the NBA tonight, there’s a few teams getting their butts kicked. So maybe it is just a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the NBA, in the office,” Irving added. “But a lot of lessons learned, man, hard lessons on this. You got to give credit to them, man. They came out, they made adjustments from our preseason games, and they wanted to make a statement here on their home floor, and they did that.”
Irving On His Minutes Plan With The Dallas Mavericks
Irving checked out with 8:09 left in the first quarter, 3:51 into the game. He played 7:28 in the first quarter, 6:35 in the second, 8:39 in the third, and 1:03 in the fourth.
Irving is used to playing 10 to 12 minutes to start a game. Getting used to a shorter first stint is part of the adjustment, he said.
“Just gotta do a better job of being aggressive. Start off the game and obviously my spotty minutes were, or I don’t wanna say spotty minutes, but just the minutes that I was gonna play. Just gotta get used to them,” Irving said. “I came out very early in that first quarter. I’m used to playing 12 minutes through or 11 minutes, 10 minutes through. And I gotta do a better job of adjusting to what our game plan is and just getting other guys involved.”
The plan is part game plan and part ramping back up, according to Irving. The Mavericks’ medical staff has gone through a lot of change, he said, which puts pressure on a few people in that office.
“It’s a little bit of both, but I think on the latter side of just getting ramped back up, playing more minutes, getting more confident and more comfortable out there,” Irving explained. “And we have a great medical staff, but we also had a lot of change there. So it’s a lot of pressure on a few guys in that office. And we all wanna make each other look good.”
The medical staff, Mavericks coach Dusty May, and the coaching staff set Irving’s minutes. He is chomping at the bit a little bit, he said, and has to be patient.
“So I do my preparation, they have their preparation. We talk, talk to Dusty, talk to the coaching staff as well,” Irving continued. “They have my minutes lined up and I just gotta be very patient. So chomping at the bit a little bit, but at the same time, it’s a big picture.”
In past seasons, Irving could ease his way into games. Playing on a restriction changes that, he said.
“For the past few years, that’s been the pattern where I get a chance to come into the game and ease my way into it,” Irving noted. “But now, playing on this minutes restriction or whatever the case may be, I gotta be in attack mode as soon as I get the ball, as soon as the ball is tipped.”
Irving On Houston Rockets’ Double Teams And The Second Quarter
Houston sent a second defender at Irving off screens. Dallas ran 15 pick-and-roll possessions in which the Rockets committed two defenders to the ball handler and scored 0.600 points per possession on them, according to play-type data reviewed by Dallas Sports Journal.
Irving had 3 turnovers and 4 points in the first half. In the third quarter, he scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including a pull-up 3-pointer with 59.1 seconds left and a cutting layup at the buzzer.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka was an assistant with the Brooklyn Nets when Irving played there. After the Oct. 11 preseason game, Udoka said he saw Irving working out quite a bit over the summer, and Houston still scouts him after the long layoff, Irving said.
“Go watch some film and see where I can get better. But also, I take that respect very personally, just knowing that,” Irving said. “Although I’ve been out for a while, they still scout me. Ime was on record saying he saw me in the summertime as well. I’ve been going against him a few times, so we’re very familiar with each other’s games. But I just gotta do a better job of being aggressive.”
Before the second quarter, Dallas felt it was in rhythm, according to Irving. He wanted to lead the group out of the stretch that followed.
“Easy fix? I mean, in theory, but it really comes down to effort. We can make a little bit of an excuse, but we just gotta take this one on the chin,” Irving explained. “They put on their boxing gloves and then beat us up pretty good in that second quarter and we got off to a great start. Felt like we were within rhythm and then starting off that second quarter I gotta do a better job.”
“Leading us out and just not necessarily playing so timid and getting some shots up and aggressively attacking double teams,” Irving continued. “It surprised me a bit when they made some double teams at me coming off those screens, which, first game coming back, because I knew I was going to see some different looks and I just got to adjust moving forward.”
Houston won the second quarter 38-12. Dallas made 4 of 19 shots and none of its 14 threes in the period, and Irving would not pin it on one player.
“There was just the effort just horrendous man. Be honest with you,” Irving said. “I don’t want to use a graphic word like to just negatively put it on just one person or even just myself, it was a total team effort. We were just horrendous defensively. When you score 12 points in an NBA game, give up 38, a few fast break points and turnovers, it’s just going to work like that. It was rough to go through, but I think we needed it. It was necessary just for us to grow as a group, just develop this chemistry that we need moving forward in order to win basketball games.”
Dallas took 27 three-point attempts and 12 shots in the paint in the first half. Irving wants better communication and more touches in the paint.
“But I think our communication has to be better and it will be. But tonight was a good challenge for us going against a team that’s played together for a year or two. It came out, hit us in the mouth, like I said. We responded, but we didn’t respond well enough,” Irving noted. “And when you’re getting down 30 and you start looking at the scoreboard, instead of hitting little singles and doubles, just quick hitters, getting points on the board, slowing the game down, we settled for a lot of three-pointers. And coming into halftime, we can’t have more three-pointers than we have shot attempts at the rim.”
“We gotta touch that paint, and a switching team like this is a great challenge,” Irving added. “Like I said, it was a great learning experience. So take our bumps and bruises and move on.”
Irving On Sharing The Load With Cooper Flagg And Marcus Sasser
Wednesday was the first regular-season game Irving and Flagg have played together, after two preseason games as teammates. Irving fed Flagg for a 25-foot 3-pointer that tied the game at 8 midway through the first quarter, and the pair combined for 24 of Dallas’ 38 points in the third.
Flagg scored a game-high 32. He wants the Mavericks to get Irving easier looks.
“Kai is Kai. We can do a better job of helping him. And obviously, I think Kai is just a one-of-a-kind talent,” Flagg said. “Obviously he’s gonna be really good for us and we just gotta do a better job, me included, just helping him, getting him some easier looks, getting the pressure off of him.”
“And they’re gonna just try to be really physical and pick up 94, me and him,” Flagg continued. “And so I think as a team that’ll be a big thing for us, just find ways to combat that and have some guy step up, bring it up and get us set up in action.”
Flagg looked out for Irving during the game. Irving would rather see the 19-year-old focus on being a voice for Dallas than worry about veterans, and the two plan to talk through attacking together on film.
“It’s great recognition by the young fella. And I want him to continue to do that,” Irving said. “But I think he has to worry about being able to be a voice for us out there and also not necessarily worry about veterans like myself. He’s a caring individual and I want him to continue that and I think tomorrow once we watch film or whenever we get to Indy we’ll talk more about how we can attack together.”
“Even in some of our actions together. I think we cause a lot of chaos when we’re in plays and actions together and I think we can do more of that,” Irving continued. “So I appreciate him looking out for me but it is a great thing that I got my 19-year-old, I mean co-pilot over there looking out for me, making sure I’m getting going.”
“But I looked at him a few times and I gotta just kind of dive more into the game and just lose myself into the instincts of it,” Irving added. “And just live with the results instead of just trying to think about like, just little plays that I gotta go score.”
Marcus Sasser scored 17 points off the bench, 14 of them after halftime. Irving saw Sasser take pressure off him as the other lead guard who can create and make decisions.
“Man, he was ultra aggressive and I think he did an incredible job of coming in and maintaining our possession by possession,” Irving said. “They were kind of attacking in the second half, we won both quarters. And third and fourth, obviously that’s not good enough, but he had a lot to do with us getting back into the game, being that other lead guard that can create and make decisions and take some pressure off myself. So really proud of him having a great game, very impactful, and I just want him to keep it up.”
Dusty May On Irving’s Leadership
May called Irving the focal point of Houston’s defense. He saw Irving lead in the second half with Dallas down by more than 30.
“Yeah, he’s obviously the focal point. They put two on the ball,” May said. “I thought he made the right plays, right decisions. There’s going to be puzzles we have to figure out, and playing four on three with our other guys, we’ve got to do a better job and find some solutions there. But I thought in the second half he showed a real, his true character of being a leader when things weren’t going well. I thought he set a great example.”
Dallas plays a back-to-back this weekend, at the Indiana Pacers on Friday at 6 p.m. CT and at home against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
