Kyrie Irving (Photo by Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
In a series where the 2nd and 3rd placed participants of the MVP award are facing off, fireworks were expected. The Mavs vs OKC series so far has been delivering on the promise as the two teams are locked level heading into game 5 after OKC’s win on Monday night.

In the narrow 100-96 loss, Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic both failed to get going, especially the former. Irving only had 9 points on the board, but the loss is not going to throw Irving off his game plan. After the game, Irving was asked about how the team should respond to the loss, to which the guard had a simple response, “Just don’t panic and stay poised.”

He further added that they were confident about their game plan but couldn’t see the game off in the latter stages. After highlighting his failure at the defensive end, Irving said, “As one of the leaders of the team, it’s definitely part of my responsibility to take my accountability, my responsibility for what I did, and how I can improve moving forward. In terms of how our team played, I feel like we played well enough to get the W tonight, majority of the game, but we just didn’t finish the job.”

Irving and the Mavs struggled throughout the game with their free throws, with only a 52.2% conversion rate compared to OKC’s 95.8%. Despite his scoring deficiency, the 32-year-old dished out 9 assists in the game, which helped him surpass Giannis Antetokounmpo in the NBA record books.

Kyrie Irving Moves Above Giannis Antetokounmpo Despite Loss

The Mavericks struggled to get their free throws away but were better at shooting from the field than their counterparts. Luka Doncic led the dime department with 10 assists, followed by Irving’s 9.

After providing his 7th assist of the night, Irving surpassed Giannis Antetokounmpo in the list of NBA playoff assist providers. With a total of 416 assists, Irving is 83rd on the list with only 4 assists adrift from Mike Bibby, and Paul Pressey, who are in the 81st and 82nd spot respectively. Irving will also have a chance to surpass Allan Iverson, who has 425 assists, on Wednesday when the two teams will meet for game 5 at Paycom Center.