Preseason Recap: Thunder 106 at Mavericks 92

Earl K. Sneed recaps Sunday's preseason contest against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as the new-look Mavs took the floor in front of the home crowd to open the home-and-home exhibition season.

DALLAS -- A new season brings new challenges. It also brings a new look for the reigning NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

No longer the hunters and now the hunted, the Mavericks took the court for the first time this exhibition season Sunday evening against an Oklahoma City team standing first in line hoping to pay the titleholders back, after the Thunder was sent home early by the Dallas squad in five games of the Western Conference finals which proved to be merely a speed bump in the way of the franchise's first title.

But after the free-agent departures of center Tyson Chandler (New York), reserve guard J.J. Barea (Minnesota) and swingman Caron Butler (Los Angeles Clippers), the Mavs took the court with a slightly different look -- including newcomers Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and Delonte West.

"We need our new guys to step into those types of opportunities," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said of the vacancies. "I'd rather call them opportunities than voids and go from there. Admittedly, this team is gonna have a significantly different makeup, but that's one of the exciting things about it as well."

Playing without two of their leaders, the Mavs and their significantly different makeup showed that it will take more than just nine days of training camp to jell, falling to a 106-92 loss in their exhibition opener despite a valiant comeback staged by the team’s young talent.

The Mavs got right back to work with two starters -- Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki and 17-year vet Jason Kidd -- inactive and resting, thrusting West and Odom into the starting lineup next to Carter, Shawn Marion and Brendan Haywood. Without the two future Hall of Famers the offense flowed Odom’s way, with the reigning Sixth Man of the Year matching two-time scoring champ Kevin Durant score for score in the opening quarter. Meanwhile, despite manning the controls seamlessly in place of Kidd, West found himself with three early fouls as the Thunder emerged with a 25-24 edge after one.

Odom’s relentless scoring assault and the emerging Dominique Jones still wasn’t enough in the early stage of the second stanza, as the Thunder continued to keep the Mavs at bay with a 3-point barrage. And not even a 14-5 Dallas run to close the half, capped by Rodrigue Beaubois’ 3-pointer, was enough to avoid a 58-51 hole at the halftime break.

Jones’ 13 first-half points and Odom’s 11 more than overcame Durant’s 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting through two quarters. But Oklahoma City’s 7-for-11 shooting from behind the arc paced the Thunder to a 65 percent to 40 percent shooting edge to accompany an 18-16 advantage on the glass.

The theme continued into the second half, with Durant, James Harden and their fellow henchmen opening up a lead as large as 23 in third quarter while Odom did his best to keep pace before Jones and Beaubois took over the scoring responsibilities, staging a 17-0 run in the fourth period.

“Roddy and Dominique did a good job penetrating and making things happen. … That was a positive part of the game for us,” Carlisle said of the two young spark plugs.

But after Jones’ deadly penetration and Beaubois’ assassin-like shooting got the Mavs back in the game just before Ian Mahinmi’s slam inside trimmed the deficit to five with just over five minutes still on the game clock, the Thunder closed the door for good on Eric Maynor’s jumper with 4:08 remaining.

The Thunder never looked back the rest of the way, overcoming the late surge by the Mavs’ stars of the future, with a late breakaway reverse dunk by Beaubois proving to be too little, too late in the end as the Mavs fell by 14.

Needing just 4-of-5 shooting thanks to 13-of-14 from the foul line, Durant led four Thunder players in double figures with 21 points. Sharing in team-high scoring honors were Beaubois -- who swished in 3-of-6 from behind the 3-point arc -- and Jones -- who dished out seven assists -- with 17 points, respectively, combining to shoot 11-for-22 from the field.

“It felt good. You know, I haven’t been on the court in a long time,” Jones said of his play. “To finally get back out and finally get back to playing basketball, it felt good.”

In his first game action in a Mavericks uniform, Odom pitched in 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting and snatched down a team-high seven rebounds in less than 23 minutes of action.

“I was just trying to make the play that’s in front of me, trying to make the right play,” Odom said of his performance. “Sometimes the right play is look to shoot it, look to be aggressive. If I had hit a couple more I would have been hot.”

“Lamar Odom is going to be a fan favorite here just because of the kind of player he is,” his coach added. “You can tell by his body language that he is just a really likable guy. He’s a competitor. He’s been a part of a lot of winning, and our fans recognize that. They know the problems he’s given us over the years. That said, he’s working through some things adjustment-wise, conditioning-wise as are a lot of our guys. We’ve got to keep pressing through those things.”

Meanwhile, West’s 1-of-7 from the floor for five points and five assists and Carter’s nine points on 4-of-11 shooting rounded out the production of the new additions.

The Thunder finished the night outshooting the Mavs, 56.4 percent to 38 percent, while also ending the game with a 45-33 advantage in the rebounding department. And despite forcing 25 turnovers -- compared to 14 of their own giveaways -- for 33 Dallas points, the Mavs couldn’t overcome their cold shooting and the Thunder’s 41 free throw attempts.

The Mavericks return to action Tuesday night in Oklahoma City, concluding the preseason in a matchup that will tip off at 7 p.m., airing locally on TXA 21.

“Hopefully we can play well,” Odom said when looking ahead to Tuesday night’s showdown against the Thunder. “Get a good practice in [Monday] and get better.”

Single-game tickets are on sale and available at the American Airlines Center North Box Office, online at mavs.com, via phone by calling 214-747-MAVS or 1-800-4NBA-TIX and all Ticketmaster outlets (Fiesta Grocery Stores, Wal-Mart, Simon Mall in Garland and the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano).

Rivalry Pack: Aside from being a season ticket holder, the only way for Mavs fans to attend the home opener against the Miami Heat or either of the two Los Angeles Lakers games is through the Rivalry Pack. Tickets to the Dec. 25 game vs. the Miami Heat and the Feb.22 and March 21 games vs. the Los Angeles Lakers can be purchased as part of a three-game package that includes one (1) of the three premium games and two (2) additional regular season games.

RPL Nights: RPL Nights return for the sixth season and will feature special discounted tickets for 10 pre-selected games. Tickets normally priced $9 will be $2, $15 will be $10, $31 will be $20 and $42 will be $32.

The Mavericks open up regular-season play Christmas Day against the Miami Heat at 1:30 p.m. CT.