Why isn’t Kyrie Irving playing against the Suns today, Jan 24? Will Doncic play?
The Dallas Mavericks have lost four of last six, and will be with out one of their two stars. Kyrie Irving will sit out tonight’s game against the Suns.
We have a massive matchup in the Western Conference from Dallas. The Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks rivalry has been growing over the last couple of years with a few league’s brightest stars going head to head, but tonight two of the Mavs’ best players were in jeopardy of missing tonight’s game.
Budding rivalry
Both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving came into the night as questionable for tonight’s game against the Suns. Each of them played in Dallas’ 119-110 loss to the Boston Celtics a couple night ago, but Luka comes into tonight with lower back stiffness and Kyrie has a sprained thumb. Reports out of Dallas is that Luka will play but Kyrie will sit out for tonight’s game against Phoenix.
Luka Doncic and Devin Booker have got awfully familiar over the last few seasons. There is a mutual respect between the two, but they are a couple of players who are bound to be passed the torch when guys like LeBron James and Steph Curry retire.
The rivalry between the two really revved up when these two teams met in the Conference Semifinals two years ago. The series went seven games and Luka and Booker butted heads more than a few times. Since there have been a few match ups that were plenty competitive, but not as chippy. The two have grown not just to tolerate each other but to admire each other.
Luka in MVP talk
Luka comes into tonight second in the league in scoring, getting 33.6 points a night, second only to Joel Embiid’s 36.1 a game. He is also averaging 8.5 rebounds and 9.3 assists and if he keeps up numbers like that he is going to be in the MVP conversation. Kyrie is averaging 25.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists.