SACRAMENTO – Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown was leading Cleveland in 2013-14 when Kyrie Irving was a young point guard trying to find his way in the NBA.
But even at that early stage, Brown knew what he was looking at.
So what stood out about the young Irving?
“A talented, talented individual,” Brown said. “He was still really young and he was kind of learning the league. But back then, you could tell he was great. I’ve been around a lot of great players and he did things that a lot of people I’ve never seen do before. From his ballhandling ability, being as small as he is but being able to finish at an elite level in traffic was amazing. His medium game was off the charts and his ability to shoot the long-range ball was fantastic.”
It was that ability to break down defenders of all shapes and sizes that impressed Brown, who has coached his share of superstars, including LeBron James and the late Kobe Bryant.
“If you look at pound-for-pound who’s the best one-on-one player, my personal opinion, he’s got to be right up there with the best of them, if not the best,” Brown said.
It’s hopeful that the Mavericks will see how Irving’s gifts start meshing with Luka Dončić in the rematch with Brown’s Kings on Saturday night. The Mavericks won Friday’s tilt 122-114, a game in which they never trailed.
Dončić said on Friday that the plan is to play Saturday, although nothing is ever etched in stone when it comes to injuries.
Coach Jason Kidd said that, whenever the Mavericks’ star guards do get on the court, things shouldn’t look a lot different. He said not much new will be injected into the Mavericks’ arsenal.
“We don’t want to confuse everyone,” Kidd said. “And (with) Kai’s IQ and maturity we’ll keep most of the sets, but we will add one or two that he’s played out of that the guys will be able to pick up. It won’t be hard. LD understands all the offensive plays. It won’t be hard for him. Today (Friday) was the first step at shootaround to get those two on the floor and hopefully they’ll be ready to go (Saturday).”
And as for the pace of the game, which has been very fast in Irving’s first two games?
“Hopefully, we’ll see that tomorrow,” Kidd said. “For us to guess, that’s what we would be doing now. To get him on the floor, I can give you a better answer. The way we’re moving, we got to continue to do that, not just with Kai, but with Luka. It just makes the game so much easier. And it’s fun to watch.
“Kai is mature. He’s played with superstars before. This isn’t his first time. He plays the game the right way. He doesn’t have to have the ball every time. It’s about helping the team get the best shot. There will be times when Luka has the ball and Kai doesn’t. And there’s going to be times when Kai has the ball and Luka doesn’t. I think it just makes the game easier for not just those two, but the other three on the floor.”
But nobody knows for sure how this is going to look until Luka and Kyrie are on the floor together.
“We got to get them on the floor, get some minutes understanding where each guy likes the ball,” Kid said. “But these are two guys that play to win, to find the open guy. We’ll see. The double teams could be a little different, less double teams with those two on the floor. So that’s hopefully to our advantage. But it’s going to take a little time. We got to get some minutes under our belt before we can tell you this is the way we’re going to play.”
Let the fun begin.
Here’s what else to look for against the Kings Saturday:
DALLAS MAVERICKS (31-26) at SACRAMENTO KINGS (31-24)
Twitter: @ESefko
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