Rowan Kavner
DALLAS – It’s not ordinary to circle a game in the middle of November as perhaps the most heavily anticipated matchup of the season.
Then again, what transpired this summer in free agency to make the game so compelling was far from ordinary.
As DeAndre Jordan gets set to return to Dallas for the first time since nearly joining the Mavericks this offseason, he knows what to expect from the crowd when he arrives Wednesday at the American Airlines Center, and he’s trying to make the most of the circumstances.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jordan said. “At the end of the day, it’s a basketball game. It’s a competition. We’re trying to go out there and beat them, just like they’re trying to beat us.”
Much like Jordan, Clippers head coach is trying not trying to make the match-up more than it is.
“I just have never figured out the difference between a ‘boo’ and a ‘boo,’” Rivers said. “When you’re the road team, they’re going to boo you. So, they’re going to boo louder, I guess? I’ve never figured that out. When you’re on the road, they’re going to not cheer for you.”
Rivers said even if Jordan never considered going to Dallas, the fans still would boo him, along with Blake Griffin and the stars of the team.
Still, he recognizes there may be extra mustard on this one.
“Clearly, there’s going to be more energy from the crowd, maybe a playoff atmosphere or something like that,” Rivers said. “But at the end of the day, their job is not to cheer for us anyway. That’s how I’ve always felt.”
Rivers referenced how his Knicks teams used to get booed everywhere. He didn’t see the big deal, but he’s waiting to see how Jordan will handle it.
J.J. Redick believes the Clippers’ big man will do just fine.
“He’s an adult,” Redick said. “It will bring out the best in him. DJ always responds to those types of atmospheres. It doesn’t necessarily have to be negativity toward him, but he thrives off that energy. I expect him to have a big game.”
Redick knows the booing will be more personal than anywhere Jordan has ventured previously. Redick joked that anyone who tweeted an emoji the day the Clippers went to visit Jordan in Houston will face some sort of ridicule, but in reality, he knows where the majority of scorn will be directed.
Griffin said Jordan’s teammates will rally behind their center when that happens. Griffin believes Jordan handled the drama of the first Mavericks matchup this season well, and he imagines Jordan will be just as excited this time around.
“It’s our job as teammates to make it easier for him,” Griffin said. “Sometimes when you want to beat a team really badly and have a lot of extra motivation and a lot of stuff going on, sometimes you force it…It’s our job to make sure he stays even and he stays who he is. We need him to be who he is.”
“Who he is” happens to be one of the top centers in the game, which is exactly why the Mavericks sought him out in the first place.
Jordan’s averaged a double-double each of the last two seasons, pulling down a league-high 15 rebounds per game last year. He’s averaging a double-double once again this season, with 10.1 points, 13.3 rebounds and a career-high 3.9 blocks per game.
In his two games at the American Airlines Center last year, Jordan posted totals of 22 points and 27 rebounds and 16 points and 18 rebounds. He knows what he’s about to face will be different from last season, but it’s still basketball, which is part of the reason the constant questioning and heightening of the matchup inevitably wears thin.
Jordan’s decision to stick with the Clippers was a talking point in just about every interview he participated in this summer. Then he fielded the same questions at media day, then at the start of the preseason and again at different points once games began.
He’s discussed how he didn’t want “this whole fiasco” to happen, how he initially thought he needed a change in his career, a different role and more responsibility, and how he finally got time to think about everything that transpired and realized he didn’t want to leave Los Angeles.
“I really thought about being on one team for my entire career, and that was really important to me,” Jordan said at the free agent press conference this summer. “I’ve been here, and the past two seasons I’ve had, I have been really successful with these guys and with this group of players and the organization.”
Unavoidably, the questions would return again and again, most recently when the Clippers hosted the Mavericks at Staples Center in the home opener. Now, as he prepares to go to Dallas for the first time since his infamous decision, they’ve returned.
He gets it, though he’s downplaying the significance of the matchup and he’s ready to talk about something else.
After Nov. 11, he may finally get to do that.
“It’s cool, it’s another game. It’s going to be hostile,” Jordan said. “But it’s supposed to be.”