Two teams that had hoped to be in Las Vegas this weekend will face off in San Francisco on Sunday night when the Dallas Mavericks visit the Golden State Warriors.
Both the Mavericks and the Warriors advanced to the West final four of the NBA Cup, only to suffer first-round defeats in the single-elimination portion of the event. Dallas lost to the West’s top seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder, 118-104 on the road Tuesday, while Golden State was edged out by the Houston Rockets, 91-90, on Wednesday.
The NBA Cup format required the two Western losers to play a game added to the regular-season schedule, giving each team an 82nd game to align with the rest of the league.
This matchup serves as a rematch of the Cup opener, which captured national attention not for the tournament itself but for Klay Thompson’s return to San Francisco after joining Dallas in a sign-and-trade in the offseason.
Thompson had a stellar performance in his homecoming, scoring 22 points and thrilling his former fans, although the Warriors ultimately won 120-117.
This season, the five-time All-Star has averaged 13.3 points per game for Dallas, his lowest since his rookie year with Golden State, where he averaged 12.5 points per game in 2012.
Dallas coach Jason Kidd emphasized that Thompson’s contributions go beyond his scoring statistics.
Thompson’s replacement in the Warriors’ rotation, Buddy Hield, has posted similar numbers, averaging 14.5 points per game this season. He scored 14 points in the previous win over the Mavericks.
The Warriors have successfully filled Thompson’s role as a long-distance shooting threat with Hield, who is averaging 3.3 three-pointers per game with a 42.6-percent shooting rate. Last year, Thompson averaged 2.9 three-pointers per game with a 37.4 percent shooting rate.
Lindy Waters III, another new addition to the Warriors, was impressed by the reception Thompson received coming out of the visitors’ locker room in San Francisco last month. He believes the rematch will have a different atmosphere.
With neither team having to travel to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup Western finals, both were hoping the extra rest would help address recent issues.
