Count the Dallas Mavericks among the teams officially unafraid of the Utah Jazz now.
Treated like annoying little brothers in the first half of Monday's game while the Jazz bullied their way to an 11-point intermission lead, the Mavericks did all the bullying in the second half of their 98-90 victory.
It was Dallas' third straight win in the Delta Center.
"We took the first half personal," said Mavs guard Michael Finley, who lighted the Jazz up for 33 points. "Utah was trying to overpower us, disrespect us and challenge our manhood."
Lofty goals, and probably more common in the Mavs' imaginations than in the Jazz's game plan. But that was pretty much the gist of Dallas' halftime and postgame discussion. The Jazz had made them feel neglected, and they came out for the third quarter determined to get some attention.
Finley opened that quarter by blowing past John Starks and throwing down a thunderous dunk over Olden Polynice. In no time at all, the Jazz's 12-point lead was down to five and the Mavs were on their way.
"We wanted to let them know we were going to take it right to them, weren't going to back down," said forward Juwan Howard, after playing in his first Utah-Dallas encounter.
Forward Dirk Nowitzki, sporting ice bags on both wrists after a flagrant foul by Donyell Marshall knocked him to the floor in the fourth quarter, said, "There was a lot of intensity out there. They really tried to beat us up. They know how to play hard."
"If we're going to get where we want to be and need to be, you can't come in and let them push you around," said Mavs assistant coach Del Harris, who took over after coach Don Nelson made his best move of the night and got ejected in the second quarter, with his team down by 12.
"Our guys stood up to the challenge," said Harris. "The worst thing you can be called in this league is 'soft.' "
There was little soft about this game, except perhaps the little skippy dance done by Mavs owner Mark Cuban as he entered the locker room after the game. The contest featured six technical fouls — three on each team — and two flagrant fouls — one on each team.
Those totals have been fairly typical of these teams' three encounters this season. Spurred by Nelson, who seems to think Karl Malone picks on defenseless Shawn Bradley, and Cuban, who is a rabid fan with money and a team, the Mavericks have developed a serious chip on their collective shoulders about the Jazz.
"You got two conflicting styles, and when they come into the same building, all hell is going to break loose," Finley said, explaining the Jazz-Mavericks enmity.
Finley quickly tried to explain that by "conflicting styles" he meant style of play, that his team likes to push the ball up the floor, while the Jazz are more of a grind-it-out halfcourt team. But it's obvious there's more to their relationship than that, which would make for an interesting series if these teams should meet in the playoffs — which is a strong possibility.
After he'd concluded his analysis of the Jazz-Mavericks animosity, Finley smiled and said, "It's just good games to watch."
And unless you're a Jazz fan, that's a hard statement to dispute.
E-MAIL: rich@desnews.com