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

Porzingis’ ejection was the breaking point

The Wild West-esque battle looked as though it had the makings of an instant classic, but with around nine minutes to play in the third quarter, tempers began to flare. Following a blown whistle after one of his 11 turnovers, Luka Doncic had the basketball swiped at by a jawing Marcus Morris.

In his attempt to snatch the ball from Luka’s hands, Morris forcefully grabbed Doncic, causing Kristaps Porzingis to involve himself in the scuffle. Already having one technical foul for a reasonable disagreement in the first half, Porzingis was ejected from the game after receiving his second technical foul by coming to the defense of his 21-year-old superstar running mate.

Following Porzingis’ costly ejection, Dallas lost all momentum, and the Clippers closed the game on a 52-39 run, cementing a disappointing eight-point defeat for the Mavs. However, though the game ended with an ‘X’ in the loss column, the attitude that Dallas exhibited should not be overlooked.

Luka started the game in genuinely abysmal fashion, but where most players would struggle to find a groove, Doncic feistily and angrily clawed his way back to end the game with a preposterous 42-7-9 stat-line. In light of his controversial ejection, Kristaps Porzingis scored 14 points in only 19 minutes.

More notably, however, the 7’3″ unicorn demonstrated a previously unseen level of fire and passion that I was unsure even existed within his seemingly impossible frame. Even a handful of key Dallas role players answered the call, as Tim Hardaway Jr., Seth Curry, and Dorian Finney-Smith played halfway-decent defense and poured in 18 points, 14 points, and nine points, respectively.

In a series where the odds are heavily stacked in the opposing team’s favor, history has shown that many underdogs tend to get trounced. These teams might win a game. Rarely, they will win two. Odds are—in this series against Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the extraordinarily gifted Los Angeles Clippers—this same fate will bestow itself upon the Dallas Mavericks. But let’s make one thing clear: Dallas isn’t your typical, run-of-the-mill underdog.