NBA playoffs 2022 - What is the Dallas Mavericks' bench doing? 'Causing a problem for the other team'

As soon as they saw each other at the American Airlines Center, Donovan Mitchell made a simple request of Theo Pinson before the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks met in the first round of the NBA's Western Conference playoffs.

«Theo, shut up, please,» Mitchell told Pinson.

Mitchell is quite familiar with his friend Pinson's proclivity for running his mouth, having known him since they crossed paths on the AAU circuit. Mitchell had also been subjected to a barrage of trash talk from Pinson and the Mavs' bench during the Jazz's two March trips to Dallas.

«Don't say nothing today,» Mitchell playfully added.

Not a chance. Pinson hardly ever keeps quiet during a Mavericks game.

Pinson is ineligible for the playoffs because he's on a two-way contract but makes his presence felt as the ringleader of the rowdy Mavs' bench. He's on his feet almost all 48 minutes, constantly hyping up his teammates, hollering out coaching points and spewing trash talk in an effort to get in the opponent's head.

Players who aren't in the rotation, along with injured guard Tim Hardaway Jr., have joined Pinson, and pride themselves on having the NBA's most boisterous bench for a Dallas team that is down 0-2 in the conference semifinals to the top-seeded Suns entering Friday's Game 3 (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Their jobs are to be «energy-givers,» as Hardway puts it, a blend of assistant coach and antagonist. They'll call out defensive coverages and reminders from that morning's film sessions to teammates. And they'll mercilessly mock opponents' mistakes, such as when they made a production out of ducking and dodging when Jazz center Rudy Gobert air-balled a free throw.

«Probably more s--- talking than coaching,» Pinson says. «We just try to do everything we