As he came down awkwardly and fell to the court on the baseline late in the first quarter, Kyrie Irving grabbed at his left knee and then stayed on the floor.
And the Mavericks at that very moment knew the injury gods have no mercy. Or heart.
The Mavericks’ emotional leader and top scorer left Monday’s 122-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings with a sprained left knee, the Mavericks announced before halftime. He did not return, although he did shoot his two free throws while clearly in agony with 2:35 left in the opening quarter.
From then on, the game became sort of an afterthought as the Mavericks never led and watched the game get out of control in the third quarter, when the Kings’ advantage went from nine points to 29 in a heartbeat, with Sacramento up 85-56 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Of far greater consequence was the injury to Irving. It is a devastating blow if he has to miss any significant time.
“Just unlucky,” coach Jason Kidd said. “(We) hope that he’s healthy and it’s not serious. But, the injuries we’ve had this season, guys are trying to hold it together to get other bodies back. And then it just seems every time we get close to getting someone back, someone else goes down.
“We’re running out of bodies here. But guys keep fighting.”
Irving had helped the Mavericks get off to a decent start, but when he was motoring downcourt and slicing toward the basket through the Sacramento defense, he appeared to take a misstep and went sprawling through the paint and onto the baseline near the fans to the left side of the basket.
Irving was on his stomach, motionless, for a lengthy stretch before Mavericks’ personnel got to him. It wasn’t long before the entire team surrounded him.
When Irving was helped to his feet, he had his arms around two helpers and was heading toward the locker room, but then realized he had two free throws to shoot.
He was helped to the free-throw line and, without putting any weight on his left foot, made both free throws to bring the Mavericks within 23-18 with 2:35 left in the opening quarter.
“Kai’s a tough guy,” Kidd said. “I asked him (as) they were taking him off the court: are you good? If you leave without shooting, you’re ruled out. They took him to the free-throw line, shot the free throws and then we got him out.”
The Mavericks clearly weren’t the same after that. How could they be after watching their All-Star go down.
“It sucks that we keep losing guys,” said Naji Marshall. “But everybody’s trying to stay positive. All we can do is wait for those guys to get back, wish them a speedy recovery and keep going out there and battling.
“Kai’s amazing. We’re just praying for him. That’s our leader, our guy. I just hope he gets better.”
Anthony Davis was one of the people helping Irving off the court after the free throws.
It’s times like this that makes you wonder what the Mavericks did to make the NBA injury gods so angry.
The Mavericks already are without centers Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford and Anthony Davis. They were missing P.J. Washington on Monday night, too.
They are hopeful that Caleb Martin, acquired last month for Quentin Grimes, will be available soon, but it’s been a disastrous run of luck for the Mavericks with regard to injuries.
To make matters worse, guard Jaden Hardy went down in the third quarter with an ankle sprain and did not return. The game was far out of hand by then, but this team’s mantra of “next man up” will continue to be severely tested going forward.
It made a big difference against the Kings.
“No matter what situation in, losing Kai, you’re going to switch some things up,” Marshall said. “We tried to play faster. We’re down a lot of guys right now. We still got to do our jobs and go out there and hoop.”
Irving came into the game averaging 25 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. He has played in 50 of their 62 games and had been in a terrific groove of late, topping 30 points in five of his previous seven games.
With Irving out, the Mavericks tried to muster some momentum, but the Kings rolled in what could be an important game in the Western Conference standings.
The Mavericks fell to 32-30 and remained 10th in the West standings.
The Kings, who went 3-0 against the Mavericks this season, are 32-28 and just ahead of the Mavericks in the standings.
And the going won’t get any easier if Irving is out for any amount of time.
“Everybody seeing Kai (down) probably took some of the wind out of their sails,” Kidd said. “Their leader laying there. But knowing Kai’s out, next man up. But we’re running out of guys.”
So what was Kidd’s message afterward?
“Rest,” he said. “Just rest. And we got to stick together, keep fighting. And keep getting better at your job and that’s what we’re going to do.”
X: @ESefko
