‘Take Our Foot Off The Gas Pedal’: Kyrie Irving Says Dallas Mavericks Eased Up After Alperen Şengün, Reed Sheppard Were Ruled Out

DALLAS — Kyrie Irving said the Dallas Mavericks eased up once they learned the Houston Rockets would be without Alperen Şengün and Reed Sheppard on Friday night. Houston won the second quarter 31-17 and led at halftime before Dallas rallied for a 116-111 win at American Airlines Center.

Rockets coach Ime Udoka ruled out Şengün before the game, and Sheppard also sat with low back soreness. Steven Adams remained out with a right soleus strain. Şengün had been averaging 24.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 7.0 assists through four games, and the loss was Houston’s first of the season.

Kyrie Irving Explains Second-Quarter Letdown

The Mavericks led 27-20 after a first quarter in which Cooper Flagg scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Over the next 12 minutes, Dallas made 5 of its 20 shots and turned the ball over 8 times. Houston scored 11 points off those turnovers and took a 51-44 lead into the break.

“Just psychologically, when [we’re] hearing Şengün’s out and Reed’s out, we have a whole game plan for them, and then we kind of take our foot off the gas pedal a little bit,” Irving said. “So we just had to readjust. [It’s] a human element of it, but when you’re in competition, you can’t do that.”

“And I feel like we picked it up after halftime and just had a few conversations with some guys, and we all agreed we weren’t playing our best basketball,” Irving continued. “And in order to be considered the best in this league, you’ve got to bring the energy every single night. You’ve got to bring the physicality.”

Irving Sets The Tone To Open The Third Quarter

Irving scored Dallas’ first 8 points after halftime, starting with a pull-up in transition and adding two 3-pointers from 25 feet. He had 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting in the period. Houston still went up 84-73 when Marcus Smart threw an alley-oop to Amen Thompson with 33.7 seconds left in the quarter, and a 3-pointer by Zaccharie Risacher made it 84-76 going into the fourth.

Kevin Durant led the Rockets with 28 points, and Fred VanVleet had 16 points and 6 assists. Thompson finished with 15 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Irving went through what he focused on after the break, starting with how fast Dallas got the ball up the floor.

“I think my communication and also my aggression and just starting the third quarter off at a very high level, especially pushing the transition and getting the ball over half-court [at] 21 seconds or 20 seconds, whether it was a miss or make,” Irving said. “Just paying attention to the details on the defensive end. They’re always looking to catch you sleeping. Amen’s always looking to catch you sleeping on the offensive glass while he’s crashing. KD’s always looking to be around the basketball when they’re kind of going through their possessions where they haven’t scored in a minute.”

“And Ime does a great job of letting Fred just free flow into the offense, as well as Marcus Smart,” Irving continued. “And just learning throughout the minutes and possessions through the games, just some of their cues that they’re mentioning to each other, some of their nonverbal communication, their eyes, their eye fakes. They continue to press you and press you and press you and wear you down. I felt like we had to kind of take that energy and reverse it on them and just make sure they played on their heels.”

After halftime, Irving shot 8-of-13 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and 6-of-6 at the line for 26 of his 35 points. Dallas won the fourth quarter 40-27. The Rockets host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, and the Mavericks host the Sacramento Kings on Monday.