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Kyrie Irving gave Dallas Mavericks fans something to smile about just 10 seconds into his first start in more than 19 months on Sunday morning against the Houston Rockets at Venetian Arena in Macao, China. He drove past Jabari Smith Jr. along the baseline for a pretty reverse layup where he looked completely recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in March 2025 for the game’s first bucket, which will only feed the preseason hopes that Dallas can improve quickly after a lost year in 2025-26.
The Mavericks would go on to win the second of two against Houston, 132-115, to earn a preseason split in Macao. Pat yourself on the back if you woke up for it, you absolute sickos. Dallas looked good with Irving’s steady hand back at the helm on Sunday. Really good at times. We’ll try not to overreact.
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Dallas turned Houston over 21 times in Friday’s 135-117 loss in the same arena and continued that trend in the first quarter on Sunday, when they forced seven more Rockets’ turnovers. Two free throws from Irving tied the game, 24-24, with 1:02 left in the opening quarter, then two more from Max Christie gave the Mavs their first lead of the game 20 seconds later. Dallas led 28-27 after one, when the second of two nifty drives from Christie fell with just 12 ticks left in the quarter.
The Mavs made it a point to get out on the break throughout the first half, scoring 17 points off the Rockets’ first 11 turnovers in the game’s first 17 minutes. The easy looks and trips to the free-throw line that aggression provided gave Dallas a real lift early in the game. Dallas took a 58-51 lead into the break.
The Rockets battled back all the way from down 15 in the second quarter to back in front early in the third, but Dallas pushed the pace in their favor to win back control and take a 95-85 lead into the fourth.
The Mavs shot 15-of-40 (37.5%) from 3-point range in the win after hoisting 51 of them the first time around against the Rockets. Just becoming a roster of willing shooters under new head coach Dusty May is a welcome development ahead of the 2026-27 season.
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The Mavericks and the Rockets will meet again…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/6-things-mavericks-132-115-124754584.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-11 12:47:00
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