Nowitzki laughs off chippy talk with Thunder guard Andre Roberson

The Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma City Thunder series is getting chippy.

It's no longer about blocking a pre-game dance off, now it's elbows, forearms and technical fouls.

Of course, that's par for the course for a playoff series, per Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki.

That is until the normal stuff turned from funny to serious for Nowitzki late Thursday during Game 3 at the American Airlines Center when he got into a chat with Thunder guard Andre Roberson.

"That's actually funny," Nowitzki said with a laugh. "I played with his dad back in the day. Back in Wurzburg, Germany, my hometown. I played with his dad 20 years ago. I didn't like how he ran through a screen right there. It was the second time it happened. But that was really it."

Again, let Nowitzki tell it, the rough stuff was no big deal, although the Mavericks admit they didn't handle it well or the way the officials called the game.

The Thunder beat Dallas 131-102. Nowitzki had 16 points and six rebounds. Roberson had five points and five rebounds.

"That is every playoff series," Nowitzki said. "You feel each other out in Game 1. By Game 2 and Game 3, you hate each other. There is some elbows thrown. Stuff going on. I don't think it was anything unusual. It was just part of it."

The only thing funny and unusual was Nowitzki getting in a tussle with the son of someone he played against 20 years ago.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Nowitzki laughs off chippy talk with Thunder guard Andre Roberson."