At one point, the American Airlines Center was as loud Wednesday night as it was at any time during the Dallas Mavericks' run to a championship last season. But that was before the game even started.
Prior to tip-off, the Mavs received their pricey diamond-encrusted rings for winning that title. And while the 20,150 in attendance did their best to give the players chills as their names were called off, many were gone by the time the final horn sounded during a surprising 105-90 loss to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves.
"This is an embarrassing loss right now," Mavericks forward Shawn Marion said. "We've all got to sit and look at ourselves. We should be pissed off. We shouldn't have lost this game. This is a game we should have came out and won regardless of the ceremony tonight."
Did the celebration take away from the game itself?
"It shouldn't have. We should've won that [expletive] game. That's the reality of it. I know everybody is making a big thing about the ring tonight -- it's a great thing to receive the ring -- but tonight we still needed to win this game."
The Mavericks dropped to 0-2 during ceremonies this season. The Miami Heat topped the Mavs, 105-94, during the season opener and day the 2011 championship banner was raised to the AAC rafters.
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Follow Jon Machota on Twitter: @jonmachota
