Photos: YouTube Screenshots
DALLAS — It’s almost harder to describe the shot that Kyrie Irving used to beat the Denver Nuggets on Sunday than it was for him to make it. A leaning floater? A left-handed touch shot from just above the free throw line? Could it be described as a prayer if it’s a shot he practices? Could it be a miracle when his teammates say they weren’t even surprised when it went in?
The NBA’s official play-by-play described Irving’s shot as a “driving hook shot” from 21 feet. It gave him 24 points, Dallas 39 wins and the team renewed confidence that its stop-start season might be headed toward an impressive finish. It underscored that Dallas is a dangerous postseason opponent no one — not even the fresh-off-a-title Nuggets — wants to see in a seven-game series.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Mavericks star Luka Dončić said. “I don’t think people realize how tough of a shot that is.”
Irving has practiced this shot many times before. “I thought I got a little closer in the paint, but I looked at it after the game and I was pretty far out,” he said. His left-handed finishes have become so common that he has a team-wide celebration of them: him holding his left hand, his teammates holding theirs, as he runs back down the court.
After Sunday’s game-winning shot, Irving had the same pose, holding his left arm in recognition that he had just used it. This time, though, his teammates didn’t respond with coordinated celebrations, but by mobbing him at half court in a victorious melee of celebration.
