In Sunday’s nationally televised game, Mavs star Kyrie Irving hit a game-winning floater to hoist his club over the reigning NBA champion Nuggets. The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets were knotted 105-105 with 2.1 seconds remaining in the game.
They had a chance to defeat the defending NBA champs with one more play. When the Mavericks needed him most, Kyrie Irving came through with a game-winning, buzzer-beater layup from over 21 feet away from the hoop, leading to a 107-105 victory.
During shootarounds, Irving—who made the game-winning basket with his second-career jumper at the buzzer—acknowledged that the team often works on the inbounds play the Mavs utilized to create the opportunity. In a position with a lot on the line, the squad felt confident in its abilities.
Kyrie Irving Talks about his stunning shot
The hours of dedication he put into his game to make a difficult shot would determine the outcome. Irving said,
“It felt good. It’s a play that we work on during shootaround pretty often, so it felt good to execute,”
“I had trust in my teammates out there and, in the end, being lucky enough to hit a left-hand floater. I looked at it after the game, and I was pretty far out. Shots that I work on and just being ambidextrous and just trusting the skills that I work on.”
Irving had to curl off a corner pin-in screen in order to receive an inbound pass from Maxi Kleber during the play. Using a switch, he drew Nikola Jokic, giving him space to activate the catch and attack gaps. Irving used a left-handed floater with Jokic attempting to block what could have been a pull-up jumper with his right side packed.
How difficult was the Kyrie Irving shot ?
Even though the shot was extremely unlikely, it’s not unexpected that a player with his level of talent was able to make it by following his gut. Irving said,
“A majority of it is instinctual and comes from preparation for hours that no one sees. I saw [Nikola] Jokic taking away my pull-up going left,” “I had hit one or two tonight, so I knew he was gonna come up, but I didn’t know he was gonna commit like that. He was forcing me inside the 3-point line, so as soon as I felt him kind of behind me, I was like ‘Oh, I have my left hand it’s wide-open, why don’t I go to it?’ I think that’s what happened [and] how I saw it. [It’s] just instincts.”
It’s important to recognize the commitment and imagination that go into making a production like this one feasible. Irving highlighted how, on occasion, he will practice on the court obtaining repetitions with just his left hand in order to optimize his capacity to produce plays of this kind. He can use a variety of finishes and floaters to surprise the opponent, much as how his handle and footwork can create counters with different moves in the post and on the perimeter.