NBA Game of the Week for the Week of December 26-January 1

The first full week of the 2011-2012 NBA season includes 60 games that will help the season get into full swing. All thirty teams in the league will play at least three games this week and most teams will play four.

The young, maturing Oklahoma City Thunder will host the defending NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks in this week’s NBA Game of the Week. When the Mavericks and Thunder last met, a trip to the 2011 NBA Finals was at stake.

This game alone will not determine the ultimate fate of either of these teams this year. But it can serve as a gauge. Oklahoma City can get an idea of just how much they have grown since losing Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals to Dallas last season. The Mavericks can use the game to help them figure out how new additions Vince Carter, Lamar Odom and Delonte West can be used to help fill in the void left by the departures of J.J. Barea and Tyson Chandler.

(All statistics and records are through December 25)

Thursday, December 29, Dallas Mavericks (0-1) at Oklahoma City Thunder (1-0), 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT

Unlike the Mavericks, Oklahoma City had an uneventful offseason personnel wise. The Thunder maintained their core and are hoping that their growth and cohesiveness will help them in an abbreviated 66-game season.

Both the Mavericks and Thunder played on Christmas Day and their performances could not have been more different. After unveiling their championship banner, the Dallas Mavericks were totally outplayed by the Miami Heat in their season opener. The final score of 105-94 is not indicative of how much of a blowout this game really was. Dallas never held a lead in the game and at one point the defending champions trailed the Heat 78-43.

Two-time scoring champion Kevin Durant opened the season with an even 30 points in Oklahoma City’s 97-89 victory over the Orlando Magic. Defensively, the Thunder hounded the Magic into 18 turnovers and held them to 37 percent shooting from the field.

If the Mavericks want to defeat the Thunder on Thursday, they will have to play with much more intensity than they did against the Heat. After their flat performance on Sunday, the defending NBA champions will have to play with some championship pride to get a victory over the maturing Oklahoma City Thunder.

Mark is a lifelong fan of the NBA who has loved the game of basketball ever since his first trip to an NBA arena. Mark has watched more basketball games than anyone can count and has more than 100 articles about the NBA published on the internet. Mark also shares his random NBA musings on RandomNBAFan.com.

Information from ESPN.com’s NBA Schedule, Miami Heat vs. Dallas Mavericks—Play By Play—December 25, 2011 and Orlando Magic vs. Oklahoma City Thunder—Box Score—December 25, 2011 was used for this article.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Despite a 62-win season and a determined expectation for more success, hoop pundits are ranking the Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the Chicago Bulls in preseason power polls.

Here’s quick rundown of power polls that have been released so far.

CBS Sports: 1 – Heat; 2 – Thunder; 3 – Bulls; 4 – Mavericks; 5 – Lakers.

Fox Sports: 1 – Heat; 2 – Mavericks; 3 – Thunder; 4 – Bulls; 5 – Celtics.

NBA.com: 1 – Heat; 2 – Mavericks; 3 – Thunder; 4 – Bulls; 5 – Spurs.

NBC Sports: 1 – Mavericks; 2 – Heat; 3 – Bulls; 4 – Thunder; 5 – Lakers.

Sports Illustrated: 1 – Heat; 2 – Thunder; 3 – Mavericks; 4 – Bulls; 5 – Nuggets.

So hoop pundits generally agree that the NBA’s top four teams this season are likely to include the Bulls, Heat, Mavs and Thunder.

That’s a pretty good list, although, much like the experts, I’m having a hard time figuring out who that fifth team might be. The Celtics and Spurs are too old to withstand the rigors of the condensed 66-game schedule, and it seems like the Lakers are in a state of flux; maybe a New York or Memphis, or some other completely unexpected team, could sneak into the top 5.

I’m also not sure the Mavs will be as good as everyone is expecting.

If I were developing my own power poll, here’s how my rankings would look: 1 – Bulls; 2 – Thunder; 3 – Heat; 4 – Mavericks; 5 – Knicks/Grizzlies/???.

Be all of that as it may, the across-the-board ranking of the Bulls at no better than #3 or #4 is difficult to understand.

The Bulls are basically the same team as last year’s 62-win team, but with one big difference: They went out and got the shooting guard they so desperately needed. While it’s too early to know what the success of that acquisition might be, the Derrick Rose-Rip Hamilton tandem sure looked good in the team’s final exhibition game.

Meanwhile, the Miami Heat added Shane Battier and, lol, Eddie Curry, while the Mavs completely revamped their lineup. Only the Thunder remains intact from last season – all 10 members from last year’s rotation return – when they were pretty darned good.

Time will tell if the preseason power polls were accurate, but one thing is for sure: The Bulls will be in the thick of things, and are likely to exceed the pundits’ preseason power poll rankings.

Notes: Memo to whoever’s in charge of ESPN’s NBA home page – get rid of the Miami Heat Index already. What pathetic pandering…..Anyone watch the Heat-Magic game last night? The Magic looked a lot better than I expected, the Heat, not so much…..Jannero Pargo, who rode the pine for the Bulls last year after an earlier three-year stint with the team, signed with the Atlanta Hawks, while the Detroit Pistons are rumored to be interested in Keith Bogans…..K.C. Johnson’s Bulls Mailbag has returned for the season!

Sources: Power Rankings: Heat start at top, but it’s a new NBA from there, CBSSports.com; NBA preseason power rankings, Fox Sports; NBA Power Rankings: Mavericks start out season on top, NBC Sports/ProBasketballTalk; After preseason, Heat are on top, NBA.com; Heat, Thunder top preseason heap, Sports Illustrated.

YCN featured sports contributor Steve Merritt is – for better or worse – a lifelong Chicago Bulls, Bears and Cubs fan. Follow the Bulls’ 2011-12 season from a die-hard fan’s perspective on his blog, A Fan’s Take: The 2011-12 Chicago Bulls.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki is back for the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks. The supporting cast has a new look.

Tyson Chandler, J.J. Barea and Caron Butler are gone. But the front office has added Lamar Odom and Vince Carter to plug some of the holes, along with backup guard Delonte West. In a 66-game season, there is no telling how the older Mavericks will fare but the veterans know that making the playoffs will give them a shot at defending the franchise’s first title.

Dallas opens the season at home against Miami on Sunday in a rematch of the NBA finals.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Dallas Mavericks guard Jose Juan Barea and Miami Heat point guard Carlos Arroyo will play for Puerto Rico at this month’s Pan American Games.

The vice president of Puerto Rico’s Basketball Federation says the two players will start practicing with the national team next week.

Ricardo Carrillo tells the Associated Press that Daniel Santiago also will join the team Friday.

The Pan American Games will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, and feature athletes from 42 countries.

A Miami Heat team in it’s first season together went all the way to the NBA finals before losing to a Dallas Mavericks team that found it’s stride after years together. That chemistry was part of the difference in that series.

Watching the Heat lose was something fans everywhere and Kevin Love savored.

You should know LeBron James says that loss stung. Badly.

He spoke with Hoopshype and said this about the week after the NBA finals.

LJ: It was the worst week I ever had. I hate losing.

What did you do?

LJ: I did nothing. Nothing at all.

LeBron did say that he thought the Heat making it to the finals in their first year together made it a successful season. He said that living in Miami was an adjustment because he’d never lived outside Ohio before. And he gave props to Clevelanders when asked what comes to his mind about that city.

Passionate. Passionate fans who love their sports. Love the Indians, love the Browns, love the Cavaliers… And I have a lot of respect for them.

Okay commenters, have at him.