Tonight, the Dallas Mavericks play one the their most hated rivals in the Phoenix Suns. The last time the two rivals matched up against one another, Phoenix defeated the Mavericks in a dominant 114-102 victory to kickstart their early season success.
Not only will this game tonight have huge implications on the early-season success of the Mavericks, but this game could pay dividends for the Mavericks' playoff seeding later in the season. The Mavericks are coming into this game after a bounce-back win against the Chicago Bulls, where Dallas arguably played their most complete game on both sides of the ball.
While Dallas made a more concerted effort to get off to a hotter start offensively against the Bulls, their loss against the Indiana Pacers this past Monday was also an attributing factor toward the team playing better against the Bulls. The game seemed to have ignited a fire within Dallas based on the dominant fashion in which they took down Chicago, particularly in the case of superstar Luka Doncic.
Doncic hates it when players trash talk late, and Mathurin did just that
After running away with the game late in the fourth quarter, Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin began to talk trash to the Mavericks bench which was seemingly directed towards Doncic. It's unclear what Mathurin said to Doncic but it clearly woke up the Slovenian superstar.
"He started talking (expletive), one minute to go," Doncic said of Mathurin when asked about it in his postgame press conference. "If you can talk (expletive), start it early. You know how I do."
Against the Bulls, Doncic came out of the gates with a sense of needing to prove his doubters wrong. Doncic not only recorded 13 dimes in Wednesday's action but he also played his best defensive game of the season.
Doncic had a season-high of four steals against Chicago and since Mathurin's comments, Doncic has looked like a new player after starting slow
In the past, Doncic has had his way with teams or players who have talked trash to him after winning games or being on the winning side of a blowout victory. Players who wait until the end of the game to start talking trash is seemingly one of his biggest pet peeves, and he always shuts it down during postgame press conferences if a reporter asks what was going in between him and the player he was jawing with.
More famously, in the 2022 Western Conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns, Doncic said "everybody act tough when they up" in response to the Suns chirping to the Mavericks bench after securing a 3-2 series lead.
Doncic then proceeded to carry the Mavs to one of the franchise's best playoff comebacks after blowing out the Suns in a defining Game 7 victory. It never ends well for the players who try to trash-talk Doncic, and he'll be ready the next time these teams match up.
While it is just the regular season and the Mavericks will only see the Pacers one other time on March 19, Mathurin's comments to Doncic won't be forgotten between then.
Despite there being a long gap from the next time Dallas plays Indiana, Doncic will be sure to send Mathurin and other doubters a message with his play throughout the season. He is known as one of the best trash talkers in the NBA, and we could be in for another good battle between these two teams next time they take the hardwood against each other.
