The Dallas Mavericks have a Texas-sized chip on their shoulder

Underdogs across the board

Because of this incessant banter, it became easy to convince ourselves that this series was going to reveal very little of what we didn’t already know.

The Clippers are a better, deeper, more battle-tested team; The Mavericks’ central core is comprised of either youth, inexperience, or a combination of both. Los Angeles has one of the best offenses in the NBA; Dallas can’t guard a nursing home starting five. The Mavericks’ offense is historically the best the NBA has ever seen; The Clippers’ perimeter defenders still find a way to neutralize their firepower. The Mavs are one or two pieces and a couple of years away from Finals contention; The Clips are Finals contenders right now.

Everything pointed to a Dallas first-round out.

So, when the Mavericks lost their playoff debut to those very Clippers the other night, the final outcome came as a surprise to no one. After all, when a team is fully expected to lose, those beliefs are typically acted into existence. However, for those who actually watched the game, Dallas showed something that every NBA talking head glossed over as they revealed their dismissive (and quite frankly, disrespectful) first-round predictions:

That same ‘Dallas doesn’t stand a chance’ talk, regardless of its validity, inevitably thrust a Texas-sized chip on the Mavericks’ shoulders.

Like an Old-Western shootout—back-and-forth, high intensity, a constant feeling as though the room was getting smaller with every proverbial stray bullet—the Clippers and the Mavericks went tit-for-tat throughout Game 1. The Clippers dominated at the onset, sprinting out to an 18-2 lead. Immediately following their atrocious start, Dallas’ offense made a run of their own, erupting for a 48-18 outburst that propelled the Mavs out to 50-36 lead. However, once the halftime buzzer blasted and the scoreboard read 69-66, the Clippers were back within spitting distance.