By james art 
New Orleans-All-Star Reserves will be announced on Thursday, and Mavericks hope that Kiri Irving is included in the western conference team.
They would also like to see Luca Doncic to be named after the team, but given that he has played only 22 of 48 Mavericks games, this can be very much asked for.
In Irving, however, they have a player who has kept the team in sailing through a maze of injuries who have killed almost every key player for some duration.
His game itself is a strong argument for the coaches who voted to turn on Irving. But there are more than Irving season than just numbers that are strong: 24.1 points, 4.9 assists, 4.5 games per game and 48.2 percent shooting (42.2 percent of three).
“He has to be,” said coach Jason Kid about Irving’s chances. “Luke and Kai are our all stars, our MVP. So we hope they are both there. But when you (talking) about Kai, the Kai leadership and his statistics and what he did for our team are the All-Star caliber. (He was) stable – his energy, his confidence, his positivity with his teammates are huge for us. His calm, his ability to understand time and introduction.
“We asked him to do many things and he never said no. He was there through victories and losses. He understands the trip and this is to win a championship. We are lucky to have it. “
Irving has been an All-Star eight times in its previous 13 seasons-four times with Cleveland, twice with Boston and twice with Brooklyn, including the 2022-23 season, when it was traded on Mavericks after being declared Eastern Conference All- Star.
The reserves will be announced before the start of the TNT game scope on Thursday (5:30 pm, Dallas time).
When Irving was asked about his prospects for all the stars after Mavericks’s victory in New Orleans, he said, “I’ll wait. S S Just like you guys. “
Then he crossed his fingers.
KID said the results of the coaches vote should be intriguing.
“It’s not easy to do,” he said. “Many boys had a great first half of the season. This will be interesting. There is always someone. The West has many boys to choose from. It will be interesting to see who does it. “
Missy makes an impact: Last year, at that time, Yves Missy played for Baylor Bears in his lonely collegial season.
This week he was announced as the Rising Stars game and on Wednesday the center 6-11 received his plaque for being the rookie at the Western Conference of the Month for December.
The rookie from Belgium made a quick influence on the Pelicans, perhaps more than what coach Willie Green expected when he made Missy # 21 in the overall choice in the draft of last summer.
“He would definitely see a few minutes, but I don’t think I expected him to be the starting center of our team,” Green said. “And this is a credit for Eve. He has taken huge steps in such a short time. It’s kind of unusual and unique in a sense. It is getting better and better. “
Missy is on average with nine points and eight rebounds while playing a shadow under 27 minutes per game.
“Extremely proud of him,” Green said. “It is positive that you can take out our season. He was huge for us. We want him to hold the ascending trajectory. “
Briefly: Mavericks won the 51-36 bounce game against Pelicans. It was their third largest advantage of glass this season. S S Naji Marshall returned from the absence of four games due to illness and was limited to 15 minutes. He had five points and two struggles in his second trip as an opponent back to New Orleans, where he played the first four seasons of his career at the NBA.
X: @esefko