Dallas Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd has seen a lot of basketball. But even J-Kidd had to admit he probably hasn’t seen a finish quite like Sunday’s buzzer beating Mavs win over the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets.
With time winding down and the game tied, Kyrie looped around Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic and got off a left-handed floater from just inside the three-point line that connected as time expired to lead Dallas to a 107-105 victory.
Between the timing, the size of the defender and the type of shot they forced him to take, the degree of difficulty on this particular buzzer beater rivals any other.
“Ky is one of the best finishers in the league, probably is going to go down as one of the best finishers ever,” Jason said. “His float game with the right-left is just natural, and he delivered.”
The shot by Irving followed a game-tying triple by Dallas’ other star Luka Doncic,with 25 seconds to go. Coach Kidd made sure to credit Mavs big man Maxi Kleber for his ability to get both Luka and Kyrie openings on their game-breaking buckets.
“Maxi, I don’t know if he gets credit for two assists, but to be able to get the ball in, was big,” he said. “I thought he threw a great pass to Luka for a catch and shoot. To be able to execute late-game is hopefully going to help us as the journey continues.”
In between those two baskets, the Mavs also got a crucial stop on defense, which was a theme all day. Dallas did surrender a 13-point lead in the closing moments, but J-Kidd was proud of the way his team didn’t let the game get away from them.
“The team stayed together. Denver, they’re the champs, they’ve seen everything. They came back. But we got stops when we had to and then we executed late game,” he said. “Coming together as a team at the right time, you could see that. The trust, the chemistry is there.”
After Irving’s shot, the Mavs let out a lot of emotion, piling on each other on the court. Coach Kidd joked that he contemplated joining the pile, but thought better of it.
“I got to celebrate for about a minute on the court with those guys, because it’s fun to win. It’s hard to win in this league,” Jason said. “I wasn’t going to jump into the pile. I thought about it. My luck I would’ve missed and hit the floor. But I thought I’d just stand there and celebrate with those guys. But, a lot of fun. It should be fun. This time of the year, as you see in college, but also the NBA, you can see the physicality of playoff basketball has arrived a little early. We’re up for that challenge and this should be fun.”
The celebration can only last so long, however, as the Mavs now turn their attention to a busy week that includes trips to San Antonio and Utah, with a visit from the Jazz to Dallas in between. They will all be games the Mavericks are expected to win as they look to climb back into the Top 6 in the West, but J-Kidd knows his team can’t look past their upcoming opponents.
“This is a new group and we’re getting the opportunity to go through it in March. Every game means something,” Coach Kidd said. “As coaches we have to turn the page quickly to get ready for our next journey and that’s to head down to San Antonio. It was exciting to win. It starts the week off right. But we understand what we have in front of us. We can’t have any letdowns.”