In Kyrie Irving's second game back in his return from an ACL injury, he's already making a big impact for the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas overwhelmed the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, winning 121-105 following a strong first half. The Mavericks put up 44 points in the first quarter and led by 34 at the break.

Though rising star Cooper Flagg exited the game after being on the wrong end of a hard foul, Irving stepped up. The veteran playmaker led all scorers with 24 points, adding 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. Irving shot 8/15 from the field and connected on 5/10 of his three-pointers, but he also fouled out for the first time in his career.

Irving made a pair of triples in the opening quarter that got him going. In the second frame, he moved up in NBA history with his only free throws of the evening.

Kyrie Irving Continues Climb In NBA History For All-Time Scoring

With the second quarter winding down, Irving drew a foul that sent him to the free-throw line. Irving made both of his shots and was awarded another due to a technical foul on Pascal Siakam.

The trio of makes might not have been exciting, but they were still significant. The free throws resulted in Irving continuing his climb in basketball lore, as he passed Mavericks legend Mark Aguirre for 74th on the all-time scoring list with 18,459 points.

Irving added to that total throughout the game, and he's now at 18,472 career points.

That puts Irving 7 points behind Zach Randolph for 73th place. He needs 360 points to break into the top 70.

This is the second straight game in which Irving has moved up on the all-time scoring list. He leaped Dolph Schayes in the season opener.

Feasibly, if Irving appears in 50 games and averages 20 points a night, he would score around 1,000 points in 2026-27. That would give him a chance to climb into the lower 60s by the end of the season.

Irving is still working his way back to full strength after missing over a year due to his injury. Though he's now 34 years old, Irving's presence in the locker room and wealth of experience are major assets for the Mavericks.

In 2 appearances, Irving is averaging 19.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1 steal over 24.5 minutes per game. He's shooting 58.3% from the field, 42.9% from three-point range, and 100% from the free-throw line.

The Mavericks take on the San Antonio Spurs in a back-to-back on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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