Kyrie Irving returned to the lineup for the Dallas Mavericks’ 125-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday after missing the previous two games due to a left foot strain.

Irving finished with 22 points, seven assists, and four steals in 35 minutes, shooting 9-15 from the field, 1-5 from three, and 3-4 from the line. He acknowledged to feeling rusty early in the game and said the altitude in Denver didn’t help. The Nuggets, on the other hand, delivered an outstanding all-around performance. 

“I felt rusty to begin the game. We are in Denver, a mile above sea level, so I knew it would be interesting tonight, going against a well-oiled machine,” Irving said. “They’re the champions of the league. They showed they’re great in their intensity and a lot of effort plays tonight.”

“I think we can take this kind of butt-whooping that we took in the first half and really learn some things. “We had a good second half or last three quarters. We can take some of the positives, but a lot of it was just effort plays and position plays that we can improve on, and I think it’s good that we fixed it earlier in the season so it can help us later on down the line, it was a good experience.” 

The Mavs outscored the Nuggets during the final three quarters of the game by a narrow margin, but trailing 40-24 at the end of the opening period proved too challenging of a feat to overcome. Against a championship team like the Nuggets, giving up an early deficit is often too challenging to overcome.

“I mean, we just locked in, we settled in. It was a high-intensity game. We knew that Denver would give us the first punch of the game, and usually, we can withstand that,” Irving said. “But tonight, when we give up 40 points to a championship-level team, or champions, they will make you pay. And they did that for the rest of the night. 

“They were playing well off the ball, being very patient, and any time you go up 16 after the first quarter, you pretty much got to just level set and use the clock against the other team, and I feel like they did that often,’ Irving explained. “But we made our runs; there were some positives to take out of it, but again, some things we got to fix.”

Irving is still getting into a rhythm beyond the arc, as he’s shooting just 17.6 percent to begin the season. With him not playing an extended run of games either in preseason or to begin the regular season, he’s primarily been having to get his legs under him and establish a rhythm. He remains confident in the many hours of work he puts in that his shot will begin to fall sooner rather than later. 

“Just have that inner belief that the work is going to translate, and I think most important in all that is not to lose yourself in the misses,” Irving told DallasBasketball.com in Memphis. “Just to think about that next play mentality. And again, when you put up thousands of shots throughout your lifetime, if not hundreds of thousands of shots, I mean, there’s going to be days where the ball is not going to go in and be days that the ball does go in. 

“You have to celebrate yourself and your work ethic every day, and that means showing up and honestly finding that balance of what’s too much in the season and then what’s enough to correct small mistakes. You want to go hard, and that’s always what I err on the side of. But you want to find that balance of being able to correct things that probably are just small inches that’ll make the difference in the game.”

Dallas Mavs superstar Kyrie Irving against the Denver Nuggets.

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Against the Nuggets, the Mavs frequently deployed small lineups, and naturally, there is a clear risk when doing so against a big team with players that crash the glass like Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, and Michael Porter Jr. Dallas wasn’t tied together nearly enough, giving up 19 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points. 

“We went small a few times, and they took advantage,” Irving said. “It’s just long rebounds off those 3s that they take. They take a lot of random threes and transition a lot of threes in the half-court, and those long rebounds kind of killed us tonight. The focus level for us moving forward has to be better.

“We just have to hold each other accountable more when it comes down to those little things, those little details that will ultimately get us more wins.”

When looking at the big picture, Irving remains confident but acknowledges the Mavs are still in the early stages of building a “complete” team. As previously mentioned, he felt the need to get his legs underneath him again in terms of conditioning after being in and out of the lineup to start the season. 

“I think we could say we’re still building towards being a complete team,” Irving said. “I’ve been out of the lineup for the last two games, so being able to be back out there tonight and get a feel for the first starting five again and just seeing our rotations and trying not to overthink out there, and play efficient basketball.

“When I started this season, I did not necessarily have my legs underneath me and not play at the conditioning level that I wanted to,” Irving explained. “Having those two games off really gave me a rest period that I needed, and I think it will put me in a better position moving forward for the season.”

There are still ways for the Mavericks to develop continuity, and while defense and rebounding remain priorities, offensive progress can be made. One example is Irving and Doncic’s increased use of two-man screening movements in the second half, which resulted in offensive mismatches. 

Doncic and Irving faced difficult circumstances to execute with Denver’s top-rated half-court defense frequently tilting to make the initial drive difficult and focusing on taking away the first passing reads in the traditional progression, such as the drop-off pass to the big and weak-side shooters. Deploying both players into more actions together with additional attack space just helped to open things up. 

“Just attacking the weaker defenders on the other team and being able to see the defense from a flat standpoint,” Irving said. “Catching on the ISO with a live dribble, being able to square up, see where the rotation’s coming. Denver tilts a lot, where they send extra help.

“They use Jokic very well to zone up other teams and really protect him, basically. He’s a good defender, but I think, at times, we could have taken advantage of him being in the paint a little bit more. But again, hindsight is 20-20. We pick ourselves up after a hard physical game.”

The Mavericks return to action on Sunday when they face the Charlotte Hornets at American Airlines Center, hoping to avoid their first losing streak of the season.