Luka Doncic

Mavs' Luka Doncic didn't have the greatest birthday on Tuesday. To make matters worse, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle got him a rotten present.

[Rick Carlisle](/tag/rick-carlisle) got him a rotten birthday present. [Luka Doncic](/nba/players/b74d0a0c/luka-doncic) didn’t have the greatest birthday on Tuesday night. Both Doncic and Carlisle seem to be happier with their current situations.

The Indiana Pacers went down to Dallas to take on the new-look Mavericks after the addition of Kyrie Irving. Luka stole the show, in a bad way.

The NBA needs to deal with how much of this arguing they are going to tolerate. He already is drawing the most fouls of anyone on the court usually. [great as he has been](https://8points9seconds.com/2023/02/17/stat-shows-pacers-mathurin-stardom/), Mathurin tends to argue calls to much on the Pacers.

One of the NBA's brightest young point guards celebrated his birthday with victory in American Airlines Center on Tuesday night. Unfortunately for Luka ...

[Maxi Kleber was cleared for his first game since tearing his right hamstring tendon](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/28/how-mavericks-maxi-kleber-defied-norms-in-speedy-recovery-from-hamstring-surgery/) Dec. He then organized a team dinner at Nick and Sam’s Steakhouse Monday night and surprised the team by moving their pregame shootaround Tuesday to veteran guard Buddy Hield’s home. The 31-year-old swatted away Indiana’s attempt at an offensive rebound on his first play, and then drew a hard shooting foul on offense. “It was a beautiful day.” [@CallieCaplan](https://twitter.com/CallieCaplan) [Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/). [the Mavericks’ 27-point collapse Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/26/luka-doncic-mavericks-on-wrong-side-of-season-largest-comeback-vs-lebron-james-lakers/), which preceded [Kidd’s public criticism of Doncic’s maturity](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/27/mavericks-jason-kidd-criticizes-luka-doncics-maturity-a-sign-of-their-honest-rapport/) and poise with officials. [Mavericks](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/24/mavs-coach-jason-kidd-on-balancing-kyrie-irving-luka-doncic-improving-late-season-defense/) dropped to 1-4 with [Doncic and star trade addition Irving](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/23/mavs-notch-first-win-of-luka-doncic-kyrie-irving-era-grab-head-start-in-22-game-sprint/) on the court together — this defeat to 2011 championship coach Rick Carlisle and the rebuilding Pacers the most concerning and birthday-souring outing yet. [Kyrie Irving](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/27/mavs-kyrie-irving-shocks-fundraiser-with-45000-donation-for-kids-in-ghana-and-nigeria/) clanged what would’ve been the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. 13 and undergoing an intricate surgery Dec. [his 24th birthday](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/27/24-candles-five-gift-ideas-for-mavericks-star-luka-doncic-on-his-24th-birthday/). [Luka Doncic](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2023/02/27/mavericks-jason-kidd-criticizes-luka-doncics-maturity-a-sign-of-their-honest-rapport/), Indiana Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton crashed the festivities. [NBA’s brightest young point guards](https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2022/10/19/dirk-lebron-jordan-kidd-giannis-how-luka-doncics-career-compares-at-year-5-mark/) celebrated his birthday with victory in American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.

Doncic finished Tuesday's 124-122 loss to the Pacers with 39 points (14-25 FG, 3-9 3Pt, 8-12 FT), eight rebounds, six assists and one block across 38 ...

• However, the [Mavericks](https://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/DAL/dallas-mavericks/) did not get Doncic a touch with a chance to win the game in the final 10 seconds, as Kyrie Irving took the last shot. With 39 points Tuesday, Doncic still hasn't had a stretch of three games without a 30-point performance.

Kyrie Irving acknowledged feeling pressure and needing to "scale it back" after missing a potential game winner Tuesday night that dropped the Mavs to 1-4 ...

I'm at that place now, but I think I just need to scale back and let the game come to me and flow into it, because when we're playing that tense, I can feel the intensity around me. "The last two games, I just haven't played with the fluidity of my game and just complementing others and just doing the little things to get us wins," said Irving, who had 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting and nine assists Tuesday night. Easy to criticize, but for us, I've just got to focus on being the best that I can be and showing up for not only Luka, but for my teammates." It marked the fourth time in five games that Irving has played alongside [Luka Doncic](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3945274/luka-doncic) and the Mavs lost, with all of the defeats coming by a one-possession margin -- far from the boost Dallas hoped to get when it made the blockbuster deal with the [Brooklyn Nets](/nba/team/_/name/bkn/brooklyn-nets) to acquire Irving. Irving has averaged 24.7 points and 6.9 assists in seven games with the Mavs, including a pair of wins that Doncic missed while recovering from a heel contusion immediately after the deal. "I just appreciate the coaching staff and my teammates trusting me with that shot and just the comfort they gave me afterwards," Irving said after the loss, which dropped Dallas to seventh place in the Western Conference standings.

The Mavericks' games of late have not been as fun as Dallas fans would have expected them to be after getting Kyrie Irving in their already great backcourt.

Doesn’t this make this ante by Doncic today even more hysterical? The relationship between the two went sour after Carlisle and Mavs management traded Dennis Smith Jr. And took it perfection did Carlisle. Here’s Luka mimicking Rick calling a TO after he scored 😂. However, they went on a 20-7 run in the third quarter which is when Doncic did something outrageously funny which did not sit well with Rick Carlisle. The Mavericks’ games of late have not been as fun as Dallas fans would have expected them to be after getting Kyrie Irving in their already great backcourt.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 32 points and the Pacers held on to beat Luka Doncic and the Mavericks 124-122 in Dallas.

The Pacers had a hard time dealing with Doncic's size and ability to back down smaller guards, and Nwora is one of the most powerful players on the roster. He scored in double figures for the first time since Jan. Today was the first time he got on me to get him the ball. He hit timely shots throughout the game. 24 and made the most of it. He's been playing really well, and it's just the fruits of his labor because he works very hard." He's averaging 29.3 points per game in those three and is 34 of 49 from the floor in that stretch (69.4%). He finished with 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds and four blocked shots. He's playing really patient, letting the game come to him. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was asked before the game if he got Luka Doncic a birthday present, as the Mavericks' superstar and Carlisle's former pupil turned 24 on Tuesday. Regardless, he's 23 now and the two All-Star birthday boys put on a spectacular show. Haliburton celebrated his birthday Tuesday, although Haliburton was a leap-year baby and born on Feb.

Our experts explain how Kyrie Irving's trade to the Mavericks has impacted the fantasy values of Luka Doncic and Irving himself.

[LeBron James](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/1966/lebron-james) and Michael Jordan finally achieved the success they desperately sought once they realized this. [Dwight Powell](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2531367/dwight-powell) and Christian Wood are about to be joined by [Maxi Kleber](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2960236/maxi-kleber) (hamstring) to steal rebounds away from him. We should also watch newcomer [Justin Holiday](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2284101/justin-holiday), a journeyman with 3-point potential who pushed [Josh Green](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4432811/josh-green) to the bench. Doncic has landed a legitimate co-star in Kyrie Irving who is arguably the best ball handler in the league. He's exactly the same in turnovers, steals and 3-pointers, he's up in both shooting percentage categories, rebounds and assists, and he's down slightly in blocks. The more interesting effect has been on assists; Kyrie's are up, from 5.3 APG in Brooklyn to 6.9 APG in Dallas. What I've noticed so far is that both are down a couple of shots per game since Kyrie got to Dallas; Kyrie from 20.5 to 18.3, and Luka from 22.3 down to 20.8 FGA. Both, however, are shooting slightly better from the field during that stretch, so both are only down slightly in scoring. Irving has seen his usage dip from 30.3% with the Nets to a more reasonable 27.2 rate with Dallas, although his actual shot diet appears nearly identical. Luka has been quite Luka-ish; which includes a rich 36.3% usage and elite scoring efficiency in his last four games, down from a wild 38.8% usage rate prior to Irving's arrival. [Tim Hardaway Jr](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/2528210/tim-hardaway-jr). and [Christian Wood](https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3058254/christian-wood) have played particularly well recently as opposing defenses seem less inclined to bother with them.

It seems like the Mavs still have not figured out who should take the reins on offense in crunch time between Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

It definitely still is early days for the Mavs in the Kyrie Irving era. As a result, some fans think that Irving may not re-up with the team in a few months’ time. Inexplicably, Luka Doncic, who has drained plenty of clutch shots before, found himself camped on the left corner. [March 1, 2023] But it seems like the Mavs Despite the trade for another lead ball-handler, the pecking order in the Mavs offense remains clear; Doncic is still the clear-cut number one option.

Skip Bayless returns with his latest criticism of Luka Doncic, as the co-host of FS1's 'Undisputed' blasted the Dallas star for “b*tching” about foul calls.

The Knicks played all of OT with the same five guys. Skip added, “Four of the five best players weren’t even playing for the Knicks. Asked to grade Luka’s performance on a scale of 1-to-10 in December, Skip said, “I’ll go to an eight on the impressive scale.