The Dallas Mavericks were coming off winning their last five of six games on Sunday, and that snapped on the road against the Golden State Warriors in a game filled with turnovers.
The Mavericks are still experiencing one of their weirdest periods in team history ever since the Luka Doncic trade, as they got to see Doncic dominate on the court in a win for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Denver Nuggets over the weekend. It looked to be the first time since the trade that Doncic was tuned in and ready to go, as Doncic has been going through a whirlwind of emotions over the last few weeks.
The Max Christie project in Dallas seems to be working well, with Kyrie Irving speaking volumes about Christie's incredible mental approach to basketball and how impressed with him he is.
Entering Sunday's game, Irving was coming off one of his best stretches this season, going for 40-point performances when the Mavs have needed them most. There's now a new issue surrounding Irving in the post-Doncic era, and it doesn't take much to realize it.
Without Doncic, teams are smothering Irving with double teams
Doncic was the double team king as a Maverick, he would easily draw two guys, thus allowing for guys to get open looks from downtown or diving to the rim. Now, with Irving as the undisputed leader of the offense, opponents will be hunting Irving and double-teaming him too, but it'll look much different compared to Doncic being the victim of the double team.
Irving can be trusted to get out of the double team, but he's not quite the same passer that Doncic was out of the double team and doesn't have the same vision. Irving will be depending on his quick feet and ball-handling skills to get out of double teams if needed.
Teams will be starting to sniff that Irving on a double team will not be a good look, with teams looking to force bad passes and turnovers.
Of course, this all has to do with the depth of the Mavericks, passing out to the big guys who run up to the top of the key to help Irving with passing will be important for this issue. Those injuries have been detrimental to the Mavs' success this season (even though they have responded strongly), but with more positive news day-by-day on the big man injuries, this will be a huge change to the Mavs' passing abilities on those double teams.
This isn't to say anything negative about how Irving plays the game, as he's a proven champion and one of the greatest ball handlers in NBA history. This is only a testament to something that he's not fully familiar with compared to something that Doncic endured daily as a Maverick, and that was handling double teams and being able to handle extreme physicality in those situations.
When Dallas had Doncic and Irving on the floor together, teams couldn't double-team both of them, and now defenses can fully focus on doing their best to shut down Irving. The Mavericks not trading for another shot creator continues to be a glaring misstep, and Irving is going to continue to have to handle tough defense from multiple defenders all season long.
