BOSTON -- It may be cold in Beantown, but OJ Mayo expects Jason Terry to bring a lot of heat tonight at 7 when the Dallas Mavericks square off against the Boston Celtics.
Once the Mavs decided not to re-sign Terry this past summer when he became a free agent, they esentially replaced him with Mayo, who was a Memphis Grizzlies free agent. Tonight at 7 at TD Garden, the old Mavs guard (Terry) faces his replacement (Mayo) when Dallas and the Celtics battle it out.
For Mayo, he said this game has no special meaning for him. But for Terry, this is his opportunioty for him to show the Mavs they made a huge mistake in letting him go.
"I've played against JT all my life,'' Mayo said. "Not all my life, but since I've been in the league.
"So (tonight's game is) nothing big to me, even though I'm pretty sure he's going to have a little chippy on his shoulders. So we've got to expect that.''
A "little chippy?'' How about downright upset, since Terry was not at all pleased that he had to uproot his family and move clean across the country to continue his basketball career.
All because the Mavs wanted to go in another direction.
"He played some big-time years here, won a championship,'' Mayp said. "I expect that he thought he was going to stay here the rest of his career.
"He's a champion, he put in a lot of hard work here, so that's very understandable. But business is business, and you never know.''
Asked if he thought Terry would be very anxious to get his hands on the Mavs, Mayo said: "I'm looking to him playing hard tonight. But always, not (just) tonight. Always. That's Jet, man. So yeah, always.''
-- Dwain Price
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