Mavs Lose Exibition With Thunder

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It happens every second weekend in October.

The eyes of the world are on Dallas Texas for the excitement of the autumn with a traditional meetup with two programs who live to destroy each other each year in the Red River Rivalry.

Having the Texas State Fair in the backdrop under the watchful eye of the new and improved Big Tex is also an added plus.

Cooler weather usually finds its way into the storyline and, as luck would have it, it will when 11am rolls around tomorrow morning in Big D.

Earlier on Friday the basketball version of that was happening at the American Airlines Center with the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A cold front was angling its way into North Texas to drive the mercury down from 95 all the way to the low 50s by the morning.

As per custom both coaches will take a moment to address the

media pre game. It just so happened that I was the only guy holding a video camera when Thunder coach Scott Brooks spoke to the media. The discussion leaned toward the toughness of the Western Conference and of course the new law firm of Chandler and Chandler. Here’s what Coach Brooks had to say.

For the past five years the rivalry between both teams has been intense and respected since Oklahoma City’s arrival back in 2008-2009 from Seattle. Suffice to say things can get pretty loud inside an OKC Thunder game.

Ever wonder what it feels like to be on the hardwood right before a game is to start and you have introductions going on? Ever since I can remember owner Mark Cuban has made sure people like myself have been able to enjoy the nuances of The Who with an 1982 classic playing in the background as the Dallas Mavericks Dancers and the PA gent gets the crowd fired up pre tip-off.

Reason #1 why I always tell you that, ‘This…Never…Gets…Old!” I give you an exhibition taste of a Dallas Mavericks pre game introduction.

Oklahoma City opted to rest Serge Ibaka due to injury. Steven Adams started alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and managed to be the teams top scorer with 19 points. Three Thunder players would get double digits off the bench including Reggie Jackson with 13 and Anthony Morrow with 21.

The game was even steven for the good part of three quarters before OKC pulled away in the 4th with a 35-25 run and a 118-109 victory to improve their preseason to 1-1 while Dallas fell to 0-2.

Period one ended with 28-all deadlock and a scare when Raymond Felton fell awkwardly and had to be helped to the locker room. His status is still uncertain.

“I know he’s got a sprained ankle. I don’t know the severity of it,” Rick Carlisle said post game.

“I know it was a little bit unusual the way it happened, because he got his foot stepped on at kind of a weird angle. We hope it’s not serious. I don’t anticipate him playing on Sunday, so we’ll update you on Monday.”

Tyson Chandler and Chandler Parsons contributed nine points each in the early going.

Al-Farouq Aminu led the Mavs starters with 14 points while Richard Jefferson and Jae Crowder combined for 27 points in the absence of Felton as both Dallas and OKC would enjoy nine point leads in the game. Durant and Westbrook would catch fire right before the half as the Dallas trailed 54-51.

As late as the start of the 4th period Dallas enjoyed an 84-83 lead before the Thunder pulled away with a 19 point 11 rebound night from Jeremy Lamb.

Afterwards new Maverick Jameer Nelson talked about the importance of staying healthy and building team chemistry.

“Most importantly, the challenge is for us to get healthy at this point and develop some type of chemistry,” Jameer Nelson said.

“We play with a lot of chemistry during spurts of the game on both ends of the court, and then sometimes we don’t. So, you know, we just have to get guys healthy, especially in the preseason. You know, we have veteran guys. So, I think once everybody gets healthy, mentally, that helps out as well.”

Rick Carlisle announced that Dirk Nowitzki should play on Sunday against the Pacers while Monta Ellis would nurse a sore ankle.

That bit of good news evoked a big smile from Devin Harris.

“These games you just want to improve. I thought we improved from the first game,” Harris offered. “I thought we made a conscious effort of moving the ball a little bit better, and defensively we’re still growing. Obviously, we’re still making mistakes, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Dallas plays an early game Sunday with Indiana at the AAC with tip-off set for 6:30pm before going on the road for the next week.

These games don’t count so like the weather that blasted upon counted Dallas this night this was a welcome respite from the normal routine.

October 28th it starts for real in San Antonio followed by a home opener on the 30th. The 13th birthday for Mavericks basketball at the AAC.

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