On their way to the NBA Finals last season, one of the toughest series for the Dallas Mavericks was undoubtedly their second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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The Thunder entered the series against Dallas following a dominant four-game sweep of the New Orleans Pelicans, and as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, OKC was favored in this series.
Despite all of the outside noise heading into that series, the Mavs were able to defeat the Thunder in six games to move onto the Western Conference Finals, and this series showed early signs of a rivalry forming with the Thunder. They are geographically the closest team to the Mavs, and this series was nothing short of intense.
From Lu Dort injuring Luka Doncic due to his recklessness to trash talk between the two teams to P.J. Washington's dominance and several close games that came down to the wire, fans got their money's worth when watching this series, and that is poised to continue on Tuesday night.
Mavs stirred pot with Thunder by blaring cryptic rap song at their arena
Dallas plays OKC at the Paycom Center on Tuesday night, and according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon, there is some "added motivation" on the line ahead of this NBA Cup matchup.
According to MacMahon, the last time that the Mavericks beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City on November 17 by two points without Doncic, Dallas was blaring "Last Time That I Checc'd" by Nipsey Hussle from their temporary weight room at Paycom Center, and MacMahon guaranteed that the Thunder could hear that music "loud and clear."
This isn't the first time that Dallas has blared music from their weight room after a big win on the road, as P.J. Washington trolled the LA Clippers in LA by playing loud music from the weight room after defeating them in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series last season. The Clippers security came to close the door to Dallas' makeshift weight room multiple times, but Washington would just reopen the door to let the music rock down the hallway towards the Clippers locker room.
While the Mavericks' latest instance of jamming out to music after their big win in Oklahoma City last month may not have been as extreme as what happened at Crypto.com Arena last season, it still sent a message to the Thunder that "last time that (the Mavs) checked" they are still the kings of the Western Conference.
Dallas is 5-1 in their last six games against the Thunder, and they have won three games in a row at the Paycom Center including their 121-119 victory last month. Washington dominated in that game as he finished with 27 points and 17 rebounds, and his elite play in Oklahoma City continued.
After the game, Washington stated that he "loves" playing at the Paycom Center, but he also "loves" beating the Thunder. In Washington's last six games against the Thunder dating back to last year, he is averaging 20.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game while shooting 48 percent from downtown, and there is just a different feeling about him when he plays against OKC.
Washington plays with an extra level of confidence in these matchups, and the rest of the Mavericks are going to need plenty of that as they take on OKC tonight in the Knockout Round of the NBA Cup.
