Dallas Mavericks’ talisman Luka Doncic lauded Kyrie Irving after their 105-101 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. With this win, the Mavericks took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
Doncic scored 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting, but grabbed 15 rebounds in his team’s win. Irving also added 22 points, with eight of them coming in the fourth quarter.
“He’s amazing,” Doncic said of Irving. “He’s trying to facilitate for everybody too, so he’s doing it all on both ends on the floor. We appreciate having him.”
Meanwhile, PJ Washington led Dallas with 27 points on 11-of-23 shooting, including 5-of-12 from 3-point range to continue his rich form.
“Credit to my teammates for finding me and putting me in great spots to be successful,” Washington said. “So for me, it’s just all fun and games. I’ve been waiting to get here my whole career, so I’m enjoying each and every second of it.”
Washington also scored 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, 7-of-11 from 3-point range, in Dallas’ Game 2 victory while playing away from home.
“We believe in him,” Doncic said. “He’s going with big confidence, just playing the game and being aggressive, and he’s got to keep going.”
Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander also showered praise on Washington for his impressive performance.
“He’s hooping,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 31 points on 10-of-23 shooting, 10 rebounds, six assists and five blocks in the loss. “We’ve got to turn that water off if we want to win this series, for sure.”
Mavericks are now two wins away from securing their Western Conference finals berth for the second time in the last three years.
“We know he’s going to be who he is and attack, but for us, it’s just continuing to feed him that energy that he can trust who he’s around and he can trust that when the ball leaves his hands that other good things are going to happen,” said Irving.
“I feel like he’s figured that out to a certain degree. It’s up to us to continue to mold that greatness alongside him where it doesn’t matter if he scores a lot or not. Our team is going to win.”
The fourth game of the series will be played on Monday.
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