Mavs mania: From street art to a business changing its name

Ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Mavs Mania isn't just reserved for Dallas.

“This is a Texas thing, okay?! Texas is on fire!” said Tanisha Jones, who lives in Fort Worth.

She and other North Texans are cheering their team on from about 2,000 miles away, as they take on the Boston Celtics away from home. She stopped to take pictures with friends at a 3D street art of the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy in Sundance Square.

“It puts you into the spirit of what the city is feeling. It’s a vibration, and if you see it everywhere, it just increases that vibration," Jones said of the art.

It's the sentiment and reaction Fort Worth artist Jan Riggins loves to see.

"I think it's just been great for me just to meet all of these people and all of these sports fans and to see the interaction with the piece. It's been just pretty much a dream," she said.

Riggins said the Mavs franchise contacted her a few weeks ago and commissioned her to create art in DFW.

Her piece in Sundance Square is the second in Fort Worth, and the fifth total-- so far. Her daughter even helped with some of the pieces.

"I travel around the country, so I was very excited to be here and get to meet everybody as I was working locally, so super exciting for me," she said.

Riggins said she will work on more pieces next week.

Rafael Raga and his family also stopped by the artwork.

“Sí, se puede! Go Mavs!” said Rafael Raga, who also lives in Fort Worth.

He, his wife, and his granddaughter sported their Mavs jerseys on Thursday afternoon.

“Mavericks had a very good season-- Luka, Irving, Washington, Jason Kidd, the manager, oh, I’m excited!” Raga said.

Raga, a season ticketholder who already has tickets to two finals games, is confident his team will win in six games.

No matter how many games it takes, one restaurant is temporarily changing its name to make its allegiance clear.

Boston's Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar is now Dallas Pizza.

“As soon as we saw that they made the championship playoffs, we knew we had to do something to support," said president Jeff Melnick. "And we certainly can’t be a support of the Boston team, the Celtics, so, we had to make a quick change and get some banners printed and build a program to really celebrate the Mavericks.”

He said some Celtics fans are salty, but most customers are backing the move.

“We’ve gotten some emails both positive and negative, there’s a few Celtics fans, I guess, in the Dallas market. But overwhelming supportive," Melnick said.

Along with hosting watch parties, Melnick said loyalty members get half off wings throughout the games and is getting ready for a 50% increase, or more, in customers, to watch the game Thursday night.

"We’ve been scrambling a little bit to make sure we have plenty of wings and dough made—we make all of our dough fresh every day. So, we’re getting ready for it," he said.

Melnick said although Boston's Pizza is a chain throughout North America, all restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees, who live in the community.

So, they are also supportive of the temporary name change at all three DFW locations-- Arlington, Fort Worth, and Irving. The staff has also been coached to change their greetings to customers.

“It’s hard to change 25 years of habit, but we certainly are getting everyone to—from answering the phone to being here and the signage outside, we are Dallas Pizza," he said.

“Really, being someplace where everybody can gather for the hometown team is really important," Melnick added.