OKLAHOMA CITY � More than 24 hours later, emotions were raw Monday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Mavericks and Thunder players and their coaching staffs came together for, yes, an NBA game, but as Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle eloquently put it, "glorify our memories of Kobe by playing our hardest and doing everything we can to play our best."
Mamba Mentality was in the air and evident on the court as the Mavericks defeated the Thunder, 107-97, in a pivotal game between the Western Conference's sixth- and seven-place teams.
Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, who scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds Monday night, wore on his shoes the names of Kobe and Gianna Bryant and other seven victims who died Sunday in a helicopter crash near Los Angeles. It was on Dec. 29 that Kobe and Gianna Bryant sat courtside at the Mavericks-Lakers game in Staples Center and visited with Doncic afterward.
The coaching staffs of both teams on Monday wore purple and gold ribbon-pins � the colors of Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise for which he spent all 20 of his NBA seasons.
Following the lede of other NBA games Sunday and Monday, the Mavericks and Thunder honored Bryant after the game's opening tip. The Mavericks, with Doncic, holding the basketball, purposely committed an 8-second violation, signifying the jersey No. 8 that Bryant wore during his first ten seasons.
The Thunder then committed a 24-second shot-clock violation, emblematic of jersey No. 24, which Bryant wore during his latter ten seasons.
"Yesterday was very difficult for everyone in the NBA family," Carlisle said. "It's an unfathomable loss. You're talking about a guy who was a cultural icon, one of the greatest athletes to ever play in any sport. And a guy who over a two-decade period pushed everybody to a higher level."
Among those he pushed were the 2010-11 Mavericks, who met Bryant and the two-time reigning champion Lakers in the second round of playoffs.
The Dallas franchise had a history of playoff failures against the Lakers dating to the 1980s, but this time the Mavericks won the first two games in Los Angeles, as well as Game 3 at American Airlines Center.
"I've seen four or five people on the basketball court that strike fear, just by looking in their eyes," Carlisle recalled Monday. "(Bryant) was one of those people.
"When we got up 3-0 in that series and I saw his press conference after Game 3 and he sat there and said, 'Call me crazy, but I actually think we're going to win this series.' If you think I got any sleep that night, you're crazy.
"Of course, his teammates were pretty much cooked, but he showed up in Game 4 and played like a champion like he always did."
The Mavericks routed the Lakers in Game 4, in what would be Phil Jackson's last game as a coach, then beat Oklahoma City in the Western Conferences finals en route to the NBA title.
The Mavericks had practiced Sunday at Chesapeake Arena and were gathered for lunch at their hotel when news reports surfaced that Bryant had died. Carlisle said the collective reaction in the room was shock and disbelief, followed by anguish.
Carlisle said he spent the rest of the day and night exchanging phone calls with loved ones "to let them know how I felt about them." It was much the same for Thunder coach Billy Donovan.
"You have to reflect back and be grateful for what we all have and how blessed we are all because you don't know when it will all be taken away," Donovan said.
"The teams yesterday, it was probably a little different when the news just hit and you had to play a game. Our guys have spent some time to digest it, not that that makes it any easier."
Not everyone is ready to move on. Thunder guard Chris Paul, a close friend of Bryant's, flew to Los Angeles and was excused from Monday's game for what Donovan termed "personal reasons."
The NBA on Monday announced that Tuesday's Lakers-Clippers game at Staples Center has been postponed "out of respect for the Lakers organization."
The Mavericks on Sunday announced that no Dallas player will ever again wear No. 24, to honor Bryant, "who's legacy," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said, "transcends basketball."
Cuban on Monday stressed that he did not reach that decision alone. He said he reached out to Carlisle, Mavericks president Donnie Nelson, vice president Michael Finley, and Mavericks greats Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd, among others.
"Everybody thought it was a great idea," Cuban said. "It was a collective decision. It wasn't just my decision."
Carlisle called it "an amazing gesture of respect, not only to Kobe Bryant the great player, but to his family."
Cauley-Stein arrives: New acquisition Willie Cauley-Stein arrived in Oklahoma City on Sunday night and on Monday morning went through some plays with Mavericks staff at Chesapeake Arena.
Carlisle said Cauley-Stein would be available for spot minutes, but he wound up not playing against the Thunder. Carlisle and Cauley-Stein said they had a great meeting after Cauley-Stein's arrival in Oklahoma City.
"It's a blessing for real," Cauley-Stein said of being a Maverick. He also expressed thankfulness for his time this season at Golden State. "Being able to learn through Steph (Curry) and Draymond (Green) and Klay (Thompson), how they approach the game, and to come to a great situation like this and see it all have an effect.
"It's going to be fun."
