Irving senses Dallas Maverick’s urgency in new star pairing with Doncic

The Superstars are 1-4 since the perfect trade that brought Irving from Brooklyn, giving Dallas two superstars for the first time in franchise history. Irving and Doncic, along with Dallas teammates, feel playoff push in competitive Western Conference is a struggle.

Since Irving joined from Brooklyn, creating Dallas' first-ever superstar duo, the team is 1-4 in recent games. One or both of those four losses have a chance to tie or win in the final seconds. Since they didn't graduate, they are now in danger of a combined 1-6 start.

Philadelphia's Joel Embiid is neck and neck with Doncic in the signing race Thursday night with Phoenix and newly acquired star Kevin Durant.

During Tuesday's 124-122 loss to Indiana, Irving noted that "It's a very strong environment now," before elaborating, "Everybody wants to win. That's great. Everybody cares. But now we have to figure out what our character is, what our emotions are."

This includes, among other things, hardness tendencies and protective coatings. Without much time to do it.

The loss to the Bears, which came two days after Dallas blew a 27-point lead over the Los Angeles Lakers 111-108, dropped the Mavs out of the top six in the West with 19 games remaining.

Good news for Dallas: An upset win could give the Mavs (32-31) hope for home-court advantage in the first round of last year's Western Conference finals.

Bad news: A long losing streak could lead to Dallas missing the playoffs altogether. Not securing Irving's re-signing after giving up assets would be dire, with no guarantee he'll re-sign as a free agent.

"I want to win here, I really put a lot of pressure on myself," said Irving. "Sometimes I think I need to step it up a bit. Usually these learning curves and learning moments happen in the early stages, but now it's happening. It's seeing what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong."

Irving was 1-of-13 from 3-point range as the Mavs led the Lakers 48-21 in the second quarter. Despite scoring 14 points in the first quarter against the Lakers, Doncic's overall tally for the game was only 12.

In their first game together, Doncic missed a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left in a 133-128 loss in Sacramento. In the next game, he threw three touchdown passes in the final seconds of Minnesota's 124-121 home loss.

On Irving's pass to Donkich, he had a chance to connect with 15 seconds left against the Lakers. Irving misses 3-pointer, Doncic scores from corner against struggling Bears with 4 wins in previous 21 games.

"I thought it was a great shot," Doncic said. "He can make a lot of those shots. We believe in him," he said.

Confidence will be another theme as Dallas tries to at least match last season's playoff streak, which saw them lose five games to defending champion Golden State.

While the Mavericks remain quiet on their efforts to secure another star alongside Doncic and their interest in expiring contracts, citing league regulations, Irving's 2-5 start with Dallas has accelerated the urgency to achieve success.

"I know there are 15 other people who are counting on me to do what they see or expect me to be as one of the best players in the league," Irving said eight times. In 2016, he starred with LeBron James in Cleveland. "I got to hang out with Luke and join the party."

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