Kyrie Irving’s 36 points lead Mavericks’ win over Nets

Kyrie Irving missed his first two shots, including an open three-pointer on the Mavericks’ first possession. Some Nets fans enjoyed it as they booed Irving in his return to Barclays Center.

Irving wasn’t bothered as he didn’t miss many more shots. He and Luka Doncic teamed up to bury the Nets in a 119-107 win Tuesday night.

Irving finished with 36 points on an efficient 15-of-24 shooting. He was also 6-for-10 on three-pointers with four assists.

Irving didn’t get a pregame tribute video but got a mix of cheers and boos as the first Mavericks (28-23) player introduced. Before that, the Nets displayed a “Welcome Back” graphic on their jumbotron for him, Seth Curry and Markieff Morris.

It was more muted than the video Irving’s former teammate Kevin Durant received last week in his return to Barclays. Even the boos got fainter as the game went on as Irving had his way with the Nets lineup.

He also showed off in the third quarter with a one-handed dunk on an alley-oop pass from Josh Green. It was just his second dunk of the season and per NBA.com, the first alley-oop dunk of his NBA career.

When the Nets (20-30) rallied to trim a 18-point fourth quarter deficit to six, Irving had the final word with three-pointers on consecutive possessions to ensure the Mavericks weren’t threatened again.

Doncic added 35 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists, one assist shy of his 10th triple-double of season. He also received M-V-P chants in the final minute from visiting fans as Nets fans walked to the exits.

The Nets, who fell 10 games under .500 for the second time this season, dealt with being down five players due to injury, including starter Cam Johnson (left hip). It meant Ben Simmons returned to the starting lineup in his third game back from back injury.

With three starters playing 36 minutes or more Monday, the Nets looked ragged, especially defensively as the Mavericks shot 57.8% in the first half.

The Nets got within nine, 84-75 in the third quarter but the Mavericks pulled back away with an 11-0 run, capped by two long three-pointers by Doncic. The second was a 36-foot shot near the end of the period.

Still, the Nets had one last push in them. They opened the fourth quarter shooting 5-of-7 on threes and a three by rookie Jalen Wilson cut the lead to nine again.

Spencer Dinwiddie cut the lead to six on a three-point play with 5:22 left. Doncic missed a pair of free throws but the Nets couldn’t secure the rebound. It set up Irving’s response with the three-pointers that became daggers.

Mikal Bridges, who played 43 minutes Monday, had 28 points in 38 minutes on 11-of-21 shooting. Royce O’Neale had 18 points off the bench following his 15-point night Monday. Wilson, playing his first game since Jan. 3, had 10 points and four rebounds.

Cam Thomas had 16 points and career-highs with eight points and eight assists.

Simmons had nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists in 20 minutes, the most since his return. He also threw down an alley-oop dunk from Bridges in the fourth quarter.

Alas, it was just the second-most surprising alley-oop of the night behind Irving, who stole the show and the crowd coming back to Brooklyn.

Evan Barnes covers the Nets for Newsday. He previously covered Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.