The Dallas Mavericks could not overcome the absence of their best player as they fell to the Phoenix Suns 105-98. On Monday, Luka Doncic suffered a knee and ankle sprain in the team’s victory over Denver, forcing him to miss this game.
With Doncic’s absence, the Mavericks shifted to a more balanced offense and spread the responsibility of scoring among several players. Their approach was successful as Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 22 points, Kristaps Porzingis added 21, and Jalen Brunson had 18. The Mavericks had a great shooting night, making 16-of-32 (50%) three-point attempts on the night.
Despite the Mavericks’ balanced attack, they could not find offense in the final moments and narrowly lost. The game was close throughout; the Mavericks led 46-45 at halftime. Porzingis had 14 points at the halfway point.
In the third, Dallas led the entire way at one point by as many as eight points. However, Phoenix brought the score to within one point with a minute left in the third.
Dallas held a narrow lead until 5:32 was left on the clock in the fourth quarter, and the Suns took an 87-86 lead. Dallas tied the score at 96 with less than two minutes left to play in the game, but the Suns’ Devin Booker hit a long three-point attempt with 50 seconds left to ice the game away. Booker’s shot was part of a 9-2 run to end the game and a 37-point fourth-quarter that secured the Suns’ victory in front of their home fans.
Booker finished with 24 points on the night, and DeAndre Ayton amassed 19 points and 13 rebounds for Phoenix.
“’The guys played hard, gave us a chance to win on the road against the Western Conference champs, who also have won nine in a row,”’ Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd said postgame. “’Everyone in that locker room executed the game plan. We just missed some shots down the stretch, and they didn’t.”’
Dallas should be proud to have made this game close without their star player. The Suns have been one of the league’s best teams this season and have shown why they were the team that represented the Western Conference in the finals last season.
With this win, they now hold the second-best record in the league at 10-3. They have been on fire now, winning ten straight games for the first time since 2010. Phoenix expected to win this game by a wider margin based on their record and the fact that the Mavericks were without Doncic, who averages 24.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game.
“If Luka was in, we don’t know what position we would have been in,” said Kidd. “But the guys who played, they played their hearts out. And we just came up short.”
Dallas’ record drops to 9-5 on the season. They will have a chance to avenge their loss immediately as they will again play the Phoenix Suns in their next game tonight. It is not yet known if Luka Doncic will be able to play.
