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Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. CT

7:00 p.m. CT Television: TNT

TNT Radio: WWLS the Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network

It’ll be a long-overdue celebration at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Thursday night when the Thunder cruises back into town for just its third, and final, home game of the month of January. The Dallas Mavericks will join the Thunder in Oklahoma City tonight as the two I-35 rivals square off in a game that should be up-tempo and reliant on the three-point stripe.

Although it looks like Dallas may not have its full complement of players available for opening tip tonight, it will have the services of its two of its leading scorers – Harrison Barnes and Seth Curry, both of whom provide matchup problems along the perimeter.

Fortunately that wing defense is an area that has been a strength lately for Head Coach Billy Donovan’s club. With Andre Roberson and Victor Oladipo chasing down their assignments around screens and contesting shots, the Thunder has been able to keep shooting percentages low.

Dallas has played incredibly small all season long, with Dirk Nowitzki (who likely will not play tonight) at the starting center position and Barnes at power forward. There will be some tricky matchups for both teams tonight, given that the Thunder’s strength lies inside with its big men – Steven Adams and Enes Kanter.

Sabonis Selected to Rising Stars Game

A third frontcourt standout for the Thunder is rookie Domas Sabonis, who is averaging 6.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 21.2 minutes per contest so far this season. After learning that he would be representing the World team at All-Star Weekend in the Rising Stars Challenge, Sabonis scored eight points on 4-for-7 shooting to go with six rebounds in 28 minutes in the Thunder’s win last night against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Domas Sabonis. Rising Star move! Thunder leads NOP 87-67 late Q3. #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/GCtf2yXdAj — OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) January 26, 2017

“I’m very happy and honored to be part of that event, and I couldn’t thank my teammates and my coaches any more,” Sabonis said.

It’s been longer than just a season-long process towards getting Sabonis the requisite reps in the starting lineup to allow for the Lithuanian forward to improve and grow enough to be honored with this selection. According to Donovan, the credit lies within the entire organization, and of course Sabonis himself, for the time, energy and dedication to being successful.

“There’s a lot that goes into selecting somebody like that, especially where we were picking,” Donovan noted of the Thunder’s draft-day trade and selection to acquire Sabonis with the 11th overall pick. “(The scouts’) ability to really identify a player they felt was going to fit into how we wanted to play and would have upside and the work ethic to grow and improve.”

“So it’s the ability by the scouts starting off in the process of evaluating him to drafting him to the player development and amount of time the coaches have spent with him to Domas being the kind of guy he is which allows himself to play and impact our team in a positive way,” Donovan summarized.

One more look at last night's win over the Pelicans? Fire up the Thunder Mobile App for more. Thunder hosts Mavs tonight, and the game's on TNT. A photo posted by Oklahoma City Thunder (@okcthunder) on Jan 26, 2017 at 9:28am PST