Which games are you looking forward to this season?
With the Dallas Mavericks preseason schedule starting Monday, today’s question revolved around the games. We’ve already looked at what our staff is exited about this season, MVP Predictions, and our takes on who the second most important Maverick will be.
What games do we have circles on the 2024-25 Dallas Maverick schedule?
Michael: I’m sure I could come up with a reason (petty or otherwise) to circle all 82 games on the calendar, but if we’re narrowing down to two, I’ll go with October 24 and February 6.
October 24 is Game 1 of the season and the Home Opener. There are high hopes and high expectations after last year’s Playoff run and I can’t really think of a better way to kick things off than by starting 1-0. Defending home court and setting the tone that Dallas is going to be an unwelcoming place to play is important – it would be a huge boon to have an elite home record on the season and it should start day 1. Add in the fact that the opponent is the division/state rival Spurs and there is another layer of rivalry at play here. The Spurs re-tooled in the Off Season and the Mavericks would do well to dispatch them while both teams show off some new acquisitions.
February 6 is the second of two games against the Celtics and the Finals rematch implications obviously factor heavily in my choice here. Going a bit deeper, there are a few other reasons I chose the second matchup in this Regular Season series. The teams will either be looking for a season sweep, or looking to avoid a season sweep, so I suspect the stakes will be higher for this game. The first match up is only 12 days earlier, so whatever the outcome of that game, it will be fresh in the minds of all players for this game. Finally, this game is on the road in Boston. It will be great to see the Mavericks return to a hostile environment where things did not end will last season. I’m excited to see them go into Boston highly motivated to make a statement and hopefully go for a sweep in the season series.
I’d also like to throw an honorable mention of November 12 out here. This will be Klay Thompson’s first trip back to Golden State. While he will surely be greeted with tons of love, I’m hopeful to see him incredibly motivated to put on an absolute clinic against his former team.
Tyler: I’ve got my eyes on January 12 and 14, where the Nuggets will be traveling to Dallas for a two game set against the Mavericks. Ever since the NBA implemented the baseball style series’, it feels like there’s one every year that plays a large part in determining the outcome of the regular season. Last year, it was the road series that the Mavericks swept in Sacramento that swung things in their favor. I think this series in January could be that for this year’s Mavericks. These are 2 of the top 4 teams in the West, where more than likely, this series will determine the tiebreaker between Denver and Dallas. These teams play 4 times in the regular season, and these are the final 2 matchups. Besides that, the last time we saw these teams matchup, we were introduced to the left hand of Kyrie Irving. These games will be appointment viewing!
Ryan: I’ll be attending the Mavs Suns in Phoenix Oct 26. Looking forward to that one big time because well, you know, it’s the Suns.
Gracie: I have two games marked on my calendar for this season. The first one is the January 17th home game against the OKC Thunder. It will be the first time this season that the Mavericks will get to face OKC in Dallas. I am interested to see how OKC has improved since adding Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein, and how the Mavericks measure up with this team, who are considered favorites in the West. Plus, any time you have two of the league’s best in Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, it will always be a great and fun matchup. The second game I have marked on my calendar is the January 20th matchup at Charlotte. Living in Virginia, my opportunities to see the Mavericks are very limited. While it will bring me no pleasure to see Grant Williams again, seeing the Mavericks live is always my favorite part of the year.
Ben: Is every Southwest Division game an acceptable answer? It’s been building for a while, but injuries and other circumstances have derailed it for a few years. But now it looks like the Southwest is ready to be a gauntlet. The weakest teams will likely be the Spurs and the Rockets. The former has a budding superstar and added the steady Chris Paul. The latter is stacked with young talent, though none that have yet to show they can carry a franchise.
Zion Williamson finally looked like everything the Pelicans hoped he would be last season, and the Grizzlies will get Ja Morant and the rest of their core back healthy. If all these teams can keep their players on the court, every Southwest division matchup will be must-see TV.
Sudarshan: Nov. 8th against the Suns in Dallas. Depending on how the earlier game at Phoenix goes, this would either be a chance for revenge or a chance to put a nail in the idea of the Phoenix Suns Big 3 being title contenders. Any chance to see Devin Booker frustrated warms my heart. Plus, I’m going to this game and it’s probably the only time I’ll ever get to see the Mavericks live in action with the AAC providing a raucous Playoff atmosphere.
Other than that? The Christmas Day game. We all see how the Mavericks are still treated as a bit of a question mark team in a lot of corners while Minnesota is one step behind the Thunder in being crowned as the favorites. It would be great to see the Mavericks put that notion to rest in a nationally televised game and prove that the Timberwolves aren’t really that serious.
Matthew: Unfortunately the game that I am most looking forward to has yet to be scheduled. I am looking forward to the first game of the playoffs. For the first time in the Luka Doncic era, the Mavericks have a good enough team that home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs should be the expectation, rather than a hope. Because of that, the most exciting games won’t come during the regular season.