Mavericks wrap up their four-game road trip with stops in Toronto (Wednesday) and Boston (Friday). “A lot of teams are coming after us. When you kind of see the press or the media kind of calling us legitimate contenders, I don’t think it’s our time right now to be listening to all that noise,” Irving said. “We just got to focus on one game at a time and just get ready for what’s ahead of us. A lot of teams are going to be playing their best basketball, and this is that test for us in the season.”
Doncic finished with 39 points in that game and added 33 on Sunday, however the Mavericks saw their seven-game winning streak come to a halt with a 133-111 setback to the Indiana Pacers. Doncic contributes an NBA-best 34.3 points per game to go along with team-leading averages in assists (9.5) and rebounds (8.8). Irving finished with 29 points on Sunday for Dallas, which was eighth in the Western Conference entering Monday’s games.
LeVert acknowledged Sunday’s performance may not have been aesthetically pleasing but it still resulted in victory. “I think that’s what the good teams do — they find a way – playing good, playing bad and still finding a way to win,” he said. “And I think our defense got better in the fourth quarter. There were still holes in it, still possessions where we could have been better, could have talked better. But all in all, we got the win.” LeVert highlighted a 29-point performance by draining a go-ahead 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers’ 113-110 win in Dallas on Dec. 27.
