Heading into today’s matinee, the storyline was that this game would be Jalen Brunson’s first chance to play against the team that drafted him, the Dallas Mavericks (11-11). Here was his chance to rub the basketball in the face of his old mates, the silly doffs who whiffed on resigning him for about half of what the New York Knicks (10-13) agreed to pay him this past summer.
Plus, this seemed like a winnable game. The Mavs came into today’s tilt with a 1-4 record over their last five games and lost on Thursday to the league’s punching bag, the Detroit Pistons.