With these Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers, it finally feels different

Throughout this year’s NBA regular season, more than ever, sports journalists with varying degrees of street-cred have expressed outrage that the league has developed a primary focus on offensive showcase and expose, rather than accepting the torch and continuing the preferred tradition of the defensive-minded, bully-ball of yesteryear when an NBA game promised to feature a component of physicality more typically in keeping with the unrefereed street ball that many players in urban cities spend their youth cutting their teeth on. It’s understandable and reasonable to let people have different opinions about the way a team sport is played. It is obvious that the superstars that make up the fabric of today’s game tend to possess and execute on a skillset that draws more and more on Basketball -IQ and an ever-refined sense of finesse with much greater regularity than a 90’s game would; like all things flowing with the lifeblood of humanity, our games must also be subject to trends and evolutions.

For anyone who has watched any of the previous first-round playoff matchups between the L.A. Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks, it’s well known that bully-basketball hasn’t actually retired; it just doesn’t get the chain removed from its neck until the playoffs arrive. This iteration of that blossoming postseason rivalry has vaulted forth with similar amounts of feverish howling and teeth-bearing snarls as had been displayed in the previous two, and yet this one also stands out in some important ways as singular against their static backdrop.

Both teams are dealing with injuries. While Luka Doncic just played 39 minutes on a recently sprained knee, Kawhi Leonard has been almost entirely sidelined from play this series due to knee inflammation caused by recurring flareups of a surgically repaired knee. James Harden and Russel Westbrook have recently arrived in L.A. in an attempt to reach the summit of glory before their prime days have fully escaped them. Mavericks’ GM Nico Harrison has in his turn assembled what appears to be a very suitable outfit of young ballers to surround Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Rookie Dereck Lively II has been a sensational presence beneath the rim (where one has never been during the Doncic tenure), and the acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford have added the requisite physicality to fare well against bigger lineups; the latter two also serve as a great deterrent for players that might be prone to fits of shameless barbarity.

These are the newest plot twists in a narrative of two teams that can’t seem to escape each other. Put simply, it’s a basketball story, with intertwining subplots featuring villains ranging in dreadfulness, from Canucks to Aussies to Euros (Depending on your allegiances, of course).

The fans play a role in playoff basketball, as well. Many are aware that the NY Knicks recently bought up a ton of tickets to their rival 76’ers arena in order to discombobulate their home-court advantage. Before the Mavs/Clippers match in L.A. on Friday evening, a towering billboard affixed to Crypto Arena featured a digital Skyscanner advertisement with the implicitly suggestive itinerary: Dallas to Cancun. Those tickets are likely still available at a discount.

The factor that remains unchanged from the previous two series to this one is the Clippers’ proclivity to punch below the belt. The interpretation of “hard-nosed” basketball can apparently vary wildly, based on the standards of dignity upheld by its possessor. As with the former two playoff series, the Clippers have attempted to rattle the Mavericks by demonstrating a questionably unhinged physicality that unhesitatingly steps beyond the boundaries of sportsmanlike conduct at times. The factor that most distinguishes this current series from the former two, however, is the Mavericks’ response to these asinine abuses. In the face of often farcical aggression, the likes of which only Hollywood could manufacture, the Mavs have responded with the stoic, contemplative gaze of a statue, unburdened by the noise and impervious to distractions. This team harbors no doubts in their ability to collectively rise to the challenge. With Luka and Kyrie leading the charge, it’s no surprise that mettle is not in short supply.