Houston spent the first half of Friday's NBA Cup opener sending two defenders at Kyrie Irving. In the second half, Irving made the Rockets pay for every one of them.
The Mavericks guard scored 26 of his 35 points after the break, including the go-ahead jumper at 102-100 that Dallas never gave back, and the Mavericks came from behind to beat Houston 116-111 before 18,832 at American Airlines Center. The Rockets had won their first five games, among them a 128-110 rout of Dallas in the season opener nine days earlier.
A fourth quarter built around one guard
Irving finished 12 of 19 from the floor, 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and 6 of 6 at the line, with nine assists and four rebounds. The club credited him with 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, when Dallas outscored Houston 40-27 after trailing 51-44 at halftime.
His free throws mattered as much as his jumpers. With Dallas fouling on purpose to protect a three-point cushion in the last 10 seconds, Irving went to the line on the following possessions and kept converting.
According to The Associated Press, his perfect night stretched his league-best active streak at the line to 54 straight, a run that began before the left-knee ACL injury that cost him 19 months.
"It's beautiful to watch," Irving said after the game, according to the team's website, describing how he and second-year forward Cooper Flagg, who added 33 points, trade the ball late. "Our teammates trust in us to be able to make the right plays."
An old coach takes notice
Houston coach Ime Udoka, who worked with Irving as an assistant in Brooklyn, called him the best one-on-one offensive player he has seen, the Mavericks' website reported. Udoka said the Rockets had gone after Irving in the opener and would look to take him off the ball more next time.
