Mavs-Thunder preview: Looking for some payback

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But at this point, the Mavericks will take it any way they can get it.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will visit American Airlines Center Monday night for the opener of a three-game homestand. The Mavericks will be desperate to avenge a lot of things – two consecutive losses in a 24-hour span against Milwaukee and Chicago, for sure.

But they’ll also be looking to pay back the Thunder for one of the unforgiveable losses the Mavericks had at AAC. On Oct. 29, the Thunder stepped up without one of their best players, Josh Giddey, and without No. 2 overall draft pick Chet Holmgren, who is out for the season.

The Thunder won in overtime.

Since then, it’s become clear that OKC isn’t as bad as a lot of people thought they would be. They are only two games behind the Mavericks in the Western Conference standings.

They still have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 38 points in the Thunder’s win in Dallas, and Giddey has returned.

So this rates as another game that the Mavericks cannot afford to take lightly. We’ve seen what happens when they do that.

But the motivation after losing to the Bucks by a point, thanks to six consecutive missed free throws at the end of the game, and being blown out at Chicago on Saturday has left the Mavericks smarting.

The good news about the Mavericks’ lukewarm start to the season is that they have not fallen that far behind in the West. The conference-leading New Orleans Pelicans (yes, you read that right) are 18-8 and five games up on the Mavericks. But there are seven teams bunched within a game and a half of each other in the middle of the standings, including the Mavs.

“If you’re into looking at that right now, because it’s early, it’s cool to see everyone bunched up right now,” coach Jason Kidd said. “You really got to just take care of yourself, worry about yourself and what’s in front of you today. And not worry what’s going on around the league.

“If you start scoreboard watching in December, it makes it a little bit tougher to watch in March and April. But it also just shows where everybody’s at right now. You can be beaten on any given night. You can win on any given night. For us, it’s just about taking care of business and trying to win as many games as we can.”

Tonight’s start to a three-game homestand would be an ideal place to start.

Here’s some other highlights about tonight’s clash:

• Josh Green is listed as out with a right elbow sprain. Luka Dončić is listed as probable after missing the Chicago game with a right quad strain. Maxi Kleber (right foot) and Davis Bertans are listed as questionable.
• This is the finale of a five-game road trip for the Thunder, on which they are 2-2 with wins at Minnesota and Atlanta and losses in their two most recent games at Memphis and Cleveland. In Saturday’s 110-102 loss to the Cavaliers, Giddey had 17 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 points.
• The Thunder likes to play fast, although it works against them sometimes as they give up 117.6 points per game, next-to-worst in the NBA. They are 20^th in overall defensive rating.
• Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 30.8 points, one of six players averaging 30 or more, led by Dončić at 32.9 per game.

• OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (11-15) at DALLAS MAVERICKS (13-13)
• When: 7:30 p.m., Monday.
• Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas.
• TV: Bally’s Sports Southwest.
• Radio:1 The Freak, 99.1 FM Zona MX (Spanish).
• Twitter: @ESefko