The Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder have their first meeting of the season on Saturday evening in Texas. They are two teams with contrasting trajectories.
In years past, Dallas and OKC was a rivalry of epic proportions. In its infancy, there were the budding stars of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook along with the sneaky James Harden.
Despite the self-implosion of Dallas after the 2011 championship campaign, the embers of playoffs contests slowly waved. Dallas hasn’t won a playoff series since the previously mentioned 2010-2011 season. Moreover, the Thunder are responsible for two of the four first-round knockouts in the Mavs’ post-championship era.