Mavericks feature Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving’s immediate messages after Game 1 loss to Thunder

The Dallas Mavericks were defeated Tuesday by the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Oklahoma City cruised to a 117-95 victory, but Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is still confident in Dallas. Irving wasted no time after the loss, as he immediately shared an uplifting message on X (formerly Twitter).

“Tribe, stay together no matter what,” Irving wrote.

Luka Doncic was listed as probable with a sprained right knee before being made available before the game. He played throughout Tuesday’s game, but was clearly in pain. He also fell to the ground in a scary moment during the game, leading to even more pain for the Mavs star.

Doncic, however, had no interest in discussing the injury after the loss.

“Who cares? We lost,” Doncic said. “We just have to move on to the next one. I have to be better, we have to be better… We have to focus. They’re a great team, a great defensive team and a great offensive team. So it’s not going to be easy at all. We have to play really good basketball and be focused for 48 minutes.

Thunder beats Mavericks

Oklahoma City used an impressive defense to contain the Mavericks. Dallas shot just 39.3 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Kyrie Irving led the Mavs with 20 points on 50 percent field goal shooting and 75 percent three-point shooting. Doncic added 19 points, but was incredibly ineffective with his shooting (more on that later).

Daniel Gafford performed well in the loss. He scored 16 points and recorded 11 rebounds. Gafford did everything he could on the defensive end of the court, finishing with five blocks.

In the end, the Thunder did enough on both sides of the ball to earn a comfortable victory.

Luka Doncic was not himself in the first game

Once again, Doncic scored 19 points. However, it certainly wasn’t an efficient performance for the Mavs MVP runner-up.

He went 6-19 (31.6 percent) from the field. Doncic has struggled with his three-point shooting so far throughout the playoffs, which didn’t change Tuesday night. Luka made just one of his eight three-point attempts (12.5%) in the loss.

He still managed to finish the game with six rebounds and nine assists. Anyone who watched the game could tell you, however, that Doncic looked nothing like himself throughout.

He was clearly in a lot of pain. The Mavericks undoubtedly need Doncic moving forward. But if he continues to endure offensive frustrations, Dallas will need Kyrie Irving to be much more aggressive from an offensive standpoint.

Irving made just 14 shots from the field and just four three-point attempts. As mentioned above, he found the back of the net on three of those long-range attempts.

There is no doubt that Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA. In fact, some would even argue that he has a strong case to be considered the best player in the league right now. Others might rank him as a top 10 player. Regardless, Luka Doncic is a superstar.

But even the best players can struggle to battle injury. The Mavericks need Doncic to perform at a higher level, but Kyrie Irving, who is also undoubtedly a superstar, will need to lead the way against the Thunder.