National Basketball Association

Luka Dončić shares frustration, Kyrie Irving dismisses boos after Mavs' latest loss

Published Mar. 25, 2023 3:42 p.m. ET

The Luka Dončić-Kyrie Irving partnership hit a new low on Friday in their brief history together.

The Dallas Mavericks fell to the 23-51 Charlotte Hornets at home on Friday, losing 117-109 at home in a game they trailed by as many as 20 points.

Not only did Friday's loss give the Mavericks a 3-7 record in games that their star duo has played in, it also temporarily knocked them out of the play-in tournament picture. At 36-38, the Mavericks are 11th in the Western Conference following Friday's slate of games.

Dončić, who scored 34 points and had 10 rebounds plus eight assists in the loss, told reporters that the Mavericks have to "play harder," adding that it starts with him.

Dončić also made a bit of a glaring admission. Despite having another dominant individual season, he admitted that the team's losing record has caused more frustration than at any other point in his five-year career.

"It's really frustrating," Dončić told reporters. "I think you can see it with me on the court. Sometimes I don't feel it's me. I'm just being out there. I used to have really fun, smiling on court, but it's just been so frustrating for a lot of reasons, not just basketball."

Dončić didn't get into specifics and just said "there's a lot going on" in terms of his private life.

The Mavericks were also booed by their home crowd during Friday's game. Dončić said that the boos were "probably" deserved and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said his team "probably should have been booed in the first quarter."

Irving had a different take on the boos.

"So? So what? Just the way I feel about it," Irving said when asked by reporters about the boos. "I've been in New York City, so I know what that's like. You obviously want to play well, but it's only five people on the court that can play for the Dallas Mavericks. If the fans want to change places, then hey, be my guest. Got years of work ahead to be great enough to be on this level.

"But our focus isn't necessarily on the boos. It should be on our performance and just being there for each other."

Irving scored 18 points but shot 6-of-16 from the field and just 1-of-8 from 3-point range, adding in nine rebounds and seven assists in Friday's loss.

Irving has put up strong stats in his first 14 games with the Mavericks, scoring 27.6 points per game while shooting 50.4% from the field with 6.1 assists per game. Dallas has actually won three of the four games that Irving has played in without Dončić so far.

But it's clear the Mavericks have some work to do with two weeks left in the regular season. With eight games remaining, Dallas holds the league's seventh-easiest remaining schedule (determined by opponents winning percentage) and is only 2.5 games back of Golden State for the sixth seed, which would allow it to make the playoffs without having to play in the play-in tournament.