The Dallas Mavericks stunned the top-seeded Phoenix Suns on Sunday night with a commanding 123-90 Game 7 road win.
The fourth-seeded Mavericks move onto the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2011, where they will face the Golden State Warriors.
Luka Doncic propelled the team out of the gate, calmy hitting his first three shots, including two three-pointers, to give the Mavericks an early lead.
Doncic had 12 points in the opening quarter, as Dallas led by as many as 13 points to take a 27-17 lead into quarter two.
Phoenix made just 6-of-23 (26.1%) from the field in the first quarter.
The 64-win Suns had no response to the first quarter punch. Doncic finished with 35 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists, making 12-of-19 shot attempts, including 6-of-11 from three.
“I like these games. It’s pressure,” Doncic said. “I know we’re the underdogs. Everybody had the Suns to win.”
Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 points and the Mavericks pummeled the Suns all game, winning the second quarter 30-10 to take a colossal 57-27 lead at halftime.
Doncic had 27 points on his own to match the entire Suns team at halftime. Dinwiddie had 21 of his points in the first half, on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three.
Doncic and Dinwiddie became just the eighth pair of teammates to score 30 points in a Game 7 in NBA history and the first since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2002.
Suns fans reigned down boos as the teams headed to the locker room for halftime.
“A lot of people said it would be a blowout,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said with a grin. ”They were right.”
The Mavericks accomplished several firsts on Sunday night, including their first win in Phoenix since November 2019 and their first Game 7 win on the road in franchise history.
Dallas also overcame an 0-2 deficit to start a playoff series for the first time since 2005 and just the second time in franchise history.
Dallas is just the 34th team in NBA history to win a Game 7 on the road out of 143 Game 7s in history.
The Mavericks were also the first team to win on the road in this series after the home team had won the first six games in this series.
Dallas was not expected to win by many, but they overcame the hostile environment to take down the playoff-tested Suns in dominating fashion.
“I can’t get this smile off my face,” Doncic said. “I’m just really happy. Honestly, I think we deserved this.”
Phoenix’s performance was embarrassing by their standards. The reigning Western Conference champions returned a similar roster to the one that advanced to the NBA Finals last season, but they looked overwhelmed on Sunday.
They missed several shots they usually make and did not look like the team that had the NBA’s best record with 64 wins in the regular season.
It’s the second consecutive year that the Suns have lost after being up 2-0 in a series. Phoenix was up 2-0 on Milwaukee before losing four straight for the Bucks to win last year’s finals.
“You could see some of the pressure was on them early,” Kidd said. “They missed some shots they normally make.”
The Suns are just the second team in NBA history to win at least 64 games in the regular season and not reach at least the conference finals. The other was the Mavericks in 2007.
Phoenix’s All-Star guard duo of Chris Paul and Devin Booker were never a factor. Booker finished with 11 points, making just 3-of-14 shot attempts. Paul had just 10 points and four assists. As a team, the Suns made just 33-of-87 shot attempts (37.9%).
Paul, who turned 37 in the middle of the series, is a 12-time All-Star who has accomplished nearly everything possible in the NBA except winning a championship. After this debilitating defeat, it’s fair to wonder how many more opportunities he will have.
“It’s still kind of shocking,” added Dinwiddie when asked about the commanding fashion in which they won.
Dallas continued pouring it on in the third quarter, extending their lead to as much as 46 at one point. Doncic rested the entire fourth quarter as the team coasted to victory and the many Phoenix fans headed for the exits early.
Doncic was phenomenal, with the Mavericks on the brink of elimination, combining for 68 points, 21 rebounds, and 12 assists in Games 6 and 7 blowout wins.
He has shown in his career thus far that he excels in pressure situations with his team facing elimination. In his first career, Game 7, during last season’s first round of the playoffs, Doncic tallied 46 points, 14 assists, and seven rebounds while shooting 17-of-30 (56.7%) from the field in a loss.
Doncic will undoubtedly get a chance to continue showing he thrives in pressure situations during the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
Dallas will travel to San Francisco for Game 1 against Golden State on Wednesday night.