DALLAS – Jason Terry declared this rivalry week for the Dallas Mavericks. He had the games against the Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs in mind when he made that statement.

Hey, what about the Oklahoma City Thunder? There’s potential for quite a rivalry to brew between teams that are separated by a three-hour drive on I-35 and met in the West finals last season.

“It’s a big brother-little brother scenario” Terry said a day after the Mavs’ convincing win over the previously undefeated Thunder. “It is what it is. They’re good. They’re up and coming and they’re dangerous. When you got guys like [Russell] Westbrook and [Kevin] Durant on your ballclub, it’s tough any time.”

Sounds like Jet is saying that the Thunder need to beat the Mavs before it can be considered a real rivalry, huh?

“They’ve beaten us a number of times,” Terry said. “Now, if you want to say in a series, that would make some intensity come to the rivalry.”

There is plenty of playoff history between the Mavs and the next two teams on the schedule, the struggling Suns and Spurs. During Terry’s Dallas tenure, the Mavs are 2-1 in series against San Antonio and 1-1 against the Suns.

“This is rivalry week for me,” Terry said. “Playing against Phoenix and then you turn around the next night and face San Antonio, expect big things from the Jet.”

Terry admits that he gets especially amped up to play Steve Nash’s Suns. You might recall there was quite a bit of controversy around these parts when the Mavs let Nash go in free agency and traded for Terry to replace him – and it peaked when Nash’s Suns ended the Mavs season that spring with No. 13 hitting a pull-up 3-pointer over Terry that prompted Nash pal Dirk Nowitzki to shout at Terry on the court.

“There’s just always something that’s a little extra motivation when we play them,” said Terry, whose Mavs have won the last five meetings against Nash.