The high-soaring Dallas Mavericks haven’t yet found their ceiling (we hope it’s the NBA title), but they’re dead sure about their floor. The old one’s gone, and this season the Mavs’ fast break will be rolling up and down a new hardcourt.
The old Reunion floor hadn’t yet developed any dead spots like those that the Boston Celtics use to hex opponents at the venerable Boston Garden. “But it was starting to show some wear,” says Wil Caudell, general manager of Reunion Arena, “’and we wanted a state-of-the-art floor for the Mavericks” The new $51,900 floor is composed of 215 small sections so that it can be removed for non-Mavs events.
It also made financial sense to buy a new floor since the arena had to lease a floor for collegiate games; floor markings for college and pro games differ somewhat. “It was very expensive and we weren’t getting anything out of it.” says Caudell. The old floor will be given collegiate basketball markings so that leasing a floor will no longer be necessary.
All fine and dandy, but Reunion Arena is known as a tough stop on the road. Will the Mavericks lose some home court advantage, since their home “court” will be new to them?
“I won’t even notice it,” says veteran Brad Davis. “Besides, dead spots or not, I don’t jump high enough for it to matter.”
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