"It's definitely frustrating," said Doncic, who had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists in Wednesday's loss. So, Dallas now heads to Miami, where it will play the Heat on Saturday before visiting the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday in back-to-backs, before returning to Dallas to end the season with home games against Sacramento, Chicago and San Antonio. To make matters worse for the Mavericks (37-40), Oklahoma City also holds the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series. The Mavs' loss to Philadelphia, coupled with the Oklahoma City Thunder winning against the Detroit Pistons on a last-second putback by rookie Jalen Williams, has Dallas sitting a game behind the Thunder for the 10th and final play-in spot in the West. Since trading for Irving, the Mavericks are 9-14 - and 6-14 since he and Doncic played together for the first time Feb. Wins have been few and far between for Dallas over the past several weeks, as the Mavericks have lost five of six games to tumble all the way out of the play-in spots in the Western Conference. Irving added: "So it's been good - outside of the losses, of course. So, I'm appreciative of them giving me the opportunity. "I just have to be at peace with where I am and which I am, and trust of the guys that I'm going to be in that war room with every single day. So some of the goals I had previously this season had to be shifted, and I had to be more than willing, which I am, to be flexible and adaptable and live with the results, whether we make the playoffs or not. "So I wanted to finish out with Brooklyn, finish out with the season that we had going, and I didn't get a chance to do that. "I didn't expect to ask for a trade at that point in the season," he said. Irving, who had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in 40 minutes, said adjusting to being traded at midseason for the first time in his NBA career has introduced him to "a lot of newness" after his time with the Brooklyn Nets came to an abrupt end.
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