Within fourteen seconds of taking the court following his recovery from a left knee ACL tear — the ligament rupture having occurred on March 3, 2025 — Kyrie Irving had already scored. A reverse layup on the opening possession at The Venetian Arena set the tone for Dallas, with the Mavericks defeating the Houston Rockets 132-115 on Sunday.

The two teams had entered the contest tied at one win each in the two-game NBA China Games 2026 series, with a sellout crowd of 11,711 in attendance at the venue. Houston's earlier Friday result — a 135-117 win over Dallas in the opener, a match Irving sat out — was balanced by Dallas's response in the second game.

Across just under 22 minutes of floor time, Irving converted 6 of his 13 field-goal attempts for 17 points, pulled down 2 rebounds, and distributed 3 assists. He connected on 2 three-pointers from 6 attempts beyond the arc and went a perfect 3-for-3 at the free-throw line. All 17 of his points came in the first half, and once the team had stretched its lead to ten, he spent the final quarter on the bench.

Gathered in Macao for the occasion were Irving's daughter Azurie, both of his parents, his sister, a nephew, and a brother-in-law, all present to witness a contest that arrived more than 500 days after he had last taken the court.

Irving noted that the opening possession featured a play drawn up by Mavericks coach Dusty May with him in mind, adding that the moment carried considerable weight and that having May design that first call around him helped settle his thoughts going in. He said the focus going into preparation centred on physicality adjustments and reviewing footage from the most recent preseason outing. Noticing that Amen Thompson had been assigned to guard him, he said he looked to exploit that defensive pairing at every opportunity.

Irving described the moment as a relief, noting that he had spent time picturing and dreaming about how it would unfold, and expressed gratitude toward his teammates for rising from the bench to celebrate alongside him, calling the experience a blessing he attributed to his faith. He added that competing at that level and holding up throughout brought a sense of satisfaction that was hard to put into words.

Irving's performance during his return to game action came as a surprise to May, who said he had not anticipated Irving would play at that level after the extended time away. May reflected on what the opening workout had disclosed about Irving, noting that his physical condition and mental preparedness had registered as noteworthy, and that Irving's playing style from that first session bore the measured precision of a skilled craftsman. May also compared Irving's work to the tradition of jazz performance.

Watching Irving navigate possessions, teammates noted how he reads and shapes the flow of a game. May added that a few attempts landing centimeters off target would likely find the net once Irving's rhythm fully returned — something May described as a reflection of Irving's dedication. Max Christie, speaking separately after the game, recalled that Irving's opening possession produced a score in a manner entirely his own, which Christie said was worth remarking on. May noted that Irving's physical condition appeared to be in good order.

Four players were unavailable for Houston when the game began — Alperen Şengün, Kevin Durant, Fred VanVleet, and Steven Adams. Şengün's absence carried particular weight given that he had recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the opening game of the series, and VanVleet, returning after a lengthy spell away from the lineup due to injury, had contributed 17 points in that same contest. Jae'Sean Tate was also absent from the roster. Five Dallas players — Santi Aldama, Morez Johnson Jr., Dereck Lively II, Marcus Sasser, and John Poulakidas — were held out of the game at the coaching staff's discretion.

With 3:24 remaining in the first quarter, a three-pointer from Bogdan Bogdanović pushed Houston's advantage to seven points, putting the score at 22-15 — the widest gap the team had opened to that point in the game. A 13-5 burst to close the period put Dallas ahead, with Christie's layup off the drive — landing just 3.5 seconds before the buzzer — nudging the Mavericks to a 28-27 edge.

Houston edged back ahead at 31-28 early in the second quarter, only for Dallas to reel off 11 unanswered points. Naji Marshall hit a three-pointer, Cason Wallace converted a fast-break dunk, and Washington then finished an alley-oop off a Cooper Flagg feed — three consecutive scoring plays that gave Dallas's offense a burst of momentum. A basket off a transition opportunity from Irving, paired with two free throws converted by Daniel Gafford, pushed the advantage out to 39-31 with 7:47 remaining in the half. With 4:05 remaining, a three-point play by Gafford stretched the gap to 49-34, and Dallas carried a 58-51 advantage into the break.

Houston's final lead of the night — a narrow one-point advantage — came on a three-point basket by Marcus Smart with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. With 5:32 remaining and the score knotted at 77, Dallas put together a 15-2 burst to take control of the period. A three-pointer from Marshall opened the sequence, followed by his pull-up jumper, before Christie's transition three pushed the lead out to 92-79 with 2:38 left on the clock. Heading into the final period, Dallas held a ten-point cushion at 95-85, though Marshall had already picked up a technical foul with 9:10 remaining in the third quarter.

Trailing by five at the 9:43 mark of the fourth quarter, Houston had trimmed the deficit to 99-94, only for Zach Risacher to answer with nine of his 16 points on four-for-four shooting over the remainder of that period. With 23.2 seconds remaining on the clock, Bogic Biberovic converted a layup that pushed the margin out to 19 points, giving Dallas its widest advantage of the game at 132-113.

Dallas shot 48.8% from the field, converted just over 35% of three-point attempts, and went 35-of-39 at the free-throw line — an 89.7% mark. Dallas turned Houston's 22 ball-handling errors into 32 points at the other end. Points scored in the paint favoured Dallas by 50 to 40, transition baskets split 24 against 11, and the assist column landed at 28 versus Houston's 19. On the boards, Houston held a 50-46 edge over Dallas, converting that advantage into 27 second-chance points against the Mavericks' 23, with Amen Thompson pulling down six offensive rebounds to anchor the effort.

Christie finished four-of-seven from the field for 14 points, with eight of those arriving during the third quarter alone, and told reporters afterward that dropping the opener had made winning the second game a matter of priority for the team. Marshall contributed 14 points and 3 steals, Wallace put up 10 points across 16 minutes and 18 seconds of floor time, and Gafford finished with 9 points on three attempts without a miss. Christie also noted that adjustments made from the first game's film had translated into cohesive play.

Flagg went seven-of-eight from the free-throw line and wrapped up the contest with 14 points, seven assists, and four rebounds — a step down from the 19 he had put up when the series opened. Sunday's game marked the first time Flagg and Irving had appeared on the same court together.

Smart paced Houston's offense by converting 7 of 13 field-goal attempts — four of them from beyond the arc on nine tries — for a game-high 20 points, finishing with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Reed Sheppard put up 17 points while recording five turnovers. Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Thompson matched that scoring total and added seven rebounds alongside six assists, though his 4-of-12 shooting line reflected a difficult night from the floor. Oscar Tshiebwe's 12 points came entirely in the fourth quarter. Rockets coach Ime Udoka noted a mix of strengths and weaknesses, pointing to rebounding as an area where the team had confidence in itself, and said paint touches held up across both contests and assist totals ran notably high, though a number of shot attempts did not convert on the night.

Risacher connected on seven of 13 attempts to finish with 16 points, with 14 of those coming in the second half when he converted six of eight shots. He had contributed nine points and eight rebounds in the opening contest of the series. Risacher arrived in Dallas through a three-team deal completed on July 19 — a transaction that moved Ryan Nembhard to Atlanta from the Hawks. May noted afterward that a specific focus on rebounding had paid off, pointing to a pair of offensive boards as evidence, and described Risacher as someone with a natural feel for tracking down the ball.

Coming off the bench for 22 minutes and 25 seconds, Sergio de Larrea posted a plus-34 rating — the top mark among all players on the floor that night. Across two outings, the first-year guard's stat sheet showed 11 points and 6 assists in the opening game, then 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in the contest that followed. Acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers on June 24, de Larrea — who had gone to Dallas as the 25th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — was cited by May, who used plus-minus data as the basis for his contention that the player's presence on the floor tends to raise the output of those around him.

Olivier Powell logged 14:58 of floor time behind Gafford, contributing 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists while finishing at plus-14, with Lively and Aldama both out of the rotation. May noted afterward that when the team was moving in transition and controlling the glass, those players posed problems in open-court situations, though turnovers on second chances and slow entries into set actions remained areas the group had not yet resolved.

Udoka, who served on the Brooklyn Nets coaching staff during Irving's tenure there and observed him training over the summer, noted that Irving appeared to have returned to the form he had shown before his absence from the game. Irving had been observed putting in notable training work during the summer months. Smart noted that competing against players at their peak matters to him, and that watching Irving work his way back onto the court from that type of injury was worth acknowledging, adding that the performances would only improve as Irving found his footing again in high-level games.

Dallas returns home Wednesday, when the New Orleans Pelicans visit American Airlines Center for a 7 p.m. CT tip-off, before the Mavericks wrap up their preseason schedule against Atlanta on Friday at the same venue, also at 7 p.m. CT.