The Phoenix Suns grab a close game victory over the Dallas Mavericks, 123-114.
After Nico Harrison was let go just a day earlier, the Suns arrived Wednesday night prepared for a Mavericks team with nothing
to lose, one trying to win back its fans and salvage its season.
Following a quick 10-4 start by Dallas, the Mavericks failed to capitalize on open threes and couldn’t keep the crowd engaged. The Suns, led by Devin Booker and, you guessed it, Jordan Goodwin, combined for 29 first-half points and never looked back.
The theme of the season for Phoenix has been hustle and resilience, and they delivered again: nine forced turnovers and 14 points off those turnovers in the third quarter sealed the momentum.
The Suns struggled to find a clean shot in the fourth quarter and stumbled to find their footing. With a last-minute burst by the Mavericks, giving it all they had to bring this game to overtime. But in the end, the Suns did just enough to take the victory.
Game Flow
First Half
Playing to their strength with size under the basket, the Mavericks jumped out to an 18-10 lead with 14 points in the paint. Mark Williams of the Suns had his hands full with both Daniel Cooper Flagg and P.J. Washington. After giving up four offensive rebounds in the first six minutes, the Mavericks came out with energy, but the Suns maintained a steady offense led by Booker to keep the game within reach.
Flagg came out strong defensively and scored a bucket, but exited in the first quarter with a shoulder issue. He headed to the locker room, then returned with four minutes left in the period.
Booker became the Suns’ offense early, cooking Max Christie possession after possession. With Williams struggling to hold his end on the boards, he still managed to contribute six points to go along with Booker’s seven.
Fighting their way back from down 10, the Suns escaped a few open threes from the Mavericks, who shot just 3-for-14 in the first quarter despite getting good looks.
Heading into the second quarter, the Suns took the lead on a Collin Gillespie three, going up 30-28.
Jordan Goodwin led the bench with 13 points early in the second quarter. After hitting back-to-back threes to open the period, the Suns held a 36-32 lead at the 10:15 mark, though the Mavericks were slowly chipping away.
The Suns looked like they might start to pull away after hitting four quick threes, but the Mavericks continued to push the pace, get to the rim, and answer from deep. Klay Thompson, now coming off the bench for Dallas, knocked down a few threes of his own, trying to light a fire under his team to swing the momentum.
It worked, as the Mavericks stayed close with the Suns midway through the second quarter.
Becoming scrappy on the defensive end to end the second quarter, the Suns were led by Goodwin on offense and defense, harassing Flagg and the Mavericks.
Heading into halftime with a 63-53 lead, the Suns limited the Mavericks’ second-chance points, and Booker continued his sweet stroke, leading Phoenix with 16 points.
Second Half
Second-half recaps last season were filled with lazy plays and a team that often looked like it was giving up. This season is different. Like Wednesday against the Mavericks, the hustle never stopped, and the wide-open shots created by constant ball movement kept coming.
But it wasn’t over.
The Mavericks continued to double Booker and force other players to beat them. An energetic Flagg was responsible for several forced turnovers, creating wide-open looks for the Suns on the other end. After cutting the lead to 12, the Mavericks couldn’t get it to single digits, as Grayson Allen attacked the rim repeatedly, pushing the lead back up to 18 in a flash.
The ten points off turnovers by the Suns carried them through the third quarter. The Mavericks did all they could to cut into the lead, but their own mistakes kept turning into easy Phoenix baskets.
Ryan Dunn found gaps in the defense to close out the quarter and take pressure off Booker. A couple of easy dunks kept the momentum firmly with the Suns heading into the final period.
With every made shot, the Mavericks seemed to believe they were one run away from cutting the lead to single digits — but Grayson Allen shut the door immediately, drilling two straight threes to open the fourth and pushing the lead back to 16, forcing a quick Dallas timeout.
Once again, turnovers and self-inflicted mistakes halted any potential Mavericks run. Every time they looked ready to climb back into it, they shot themselves in the foot, and the game slipped further out of reach with seven minutes left.
In a last-minute scramble, the Mavericks cut the lead to as close as a four-point lead with around 2:30 minutes left in the game, but the Suns could not hit a shot, with the Mavericks making every play but still missing open shots and stepping out of bounds on multiple possessions.
Suns held on to take the victory over the Mavericks,123-114.
Up Next
Phoenix plays again tomorrow night, this time at home against the 1-10 Pacers.
