DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks – led by superstar guard duo Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving – are among the league's best in clutch situations this year.
Dallas has four players in the top 20 of plus-minus in clutch time: Irving, Doncic, rookie Dereck Lively II and Josh Green. The only team in the NBA with more than the Mavs is the Milwaukee Bucks (5). Head coach Jason Kidd was asked after Tuesday's 121-115 win over the Houston Rockets about the team's improvement in this area.
Kidd criticized the media for "not making a big deal" about the team's improvement in clutch time after harping on clutch time struggles last season. You can listen to Kidd's answer here:
"Maybe it's the things that you guys thought should have happened [since] day one, is that they should be successful right off the bat," Kidd said. "It takes time. Failing is alright. It's not a bad thing to fail for a pro athlete because you can get better and learn from it. Those two are the best in the world, and we feel very comfortable with those two having the ball. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't."
Kidd continued on, saying the media criticizing the team's performance in clutch time "was a big, big thing you guys wanted to make a big deal about last year, but you're not making a big deal about it this year because s--- is going good."
"So write some positive s---," Kidd said.
The reporter defensively responded "I was just asking you a question," to which Kidd quickly rebutted "and I'm giving you a f------ answer."
"You know, there's all right to write positive stuff ... people will read your positive s---," Kidd continued. "You don't always have to be negative, right? The world is already negative enough, right? So, let's see some positive stuff on some positive people that are doing their job on a nightly basis."
The reporter said back to Kidd that the team was making it a lot easier to do that this year.
"Well, we're only into this year. We can't go back to last year, right? Like, that's the f------ problem," Kidd said before leaving the podium. "Have a good night."
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