The Dallas Mavericks fell into a 0-2 series deficit after the Suns won 129-109 in Phoenix in Game Two on May 4.
Luka Doncic was excellent again for Dallas. Two nights after scoring 45 points in Game One, he earned 35 points by making 13-of-22 shot attempts, including 5-of-10 from three, while adding seven assists and five rebounds.
However, it still was not enough to knock off the top-seeded Suns. Unlike Game One, Dallas kept it close for much of the game. The Mavericks had a 60-58 halftime lead and only trailed 89-83 to start the final quarter.
The game looked poised to be a fight to the finish in the fourth quarter, but Phoenix’s All-Star guard Chris Paul quickly ended that possibility.
The 12-time All-Star finished with 28 points, 14 of which came in a spectacular final period. Paul, who turns 37 on Friday, turned a tight game into a comfortable Suns win almost singlehandedly.
He made six consecutive shots to open the quarter, from three-pointers to mid-range jumpers to layups. The Mavericks had no answer.
By the time Paul went to the bench with 5:45 remaining in the game, the Phoenix lead had ballooned to 110-93.
“You’ve just got to lean on the work,” Paul said. “It all goes back to the work. You can’t cheat the game. You’ve got to do the strength and conditioning, you’ve got to lift, you’ve got to get your rest, you got to get your shots up. When you do that, you live with the results.”
With Paul on the bench, the Suns’ other All-Star guard, Devin Booker, connected on two consecutive three-pointers to provide the dagger and make the score 116-95 with 4:46 remaining. Dallas head coach Jason Kidd subsequently called timeout and subbed in a full lineup of reserves, signifying the waving of a white flag.
Booker led the Suns with 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. The Suns made 64.5% of their total shots, a new franchise record in the playoffs, and 52% of their three-pointers. They made 16-of-19 (84%) shot attempts to blow the game open in the fourth.
“It just comes down to being able to guard your man one-on-one and just playing with a force to try not to get scored on,” the Mavericks’ Reggie Bullock said. “I just felt like at times we let our guard down a little bit on the defensive end.”
The win marked the Suns’ 11th in a row against the Mavericks, counting regular-season games, and their 18th win in the last 21 games against Dallas.
The Mavericks now face a must-win situation in Game Three in Dallas. In 439 best-of-seven NBA playoff series that have started 2-0, just 31 teams (7.1%) have overcome the deficit to advance. No team has ever overcome an 0-3 playoff series deficit.
The Mavericks have overcome an 0-2 playoff deficit twice in franchise history. However, Dallas has been eliminated the 10 other times they have faced an 0-2 deficit.
To overcome the deficit now would require the Mavericks to snap their 11-game losing streak against the Suns and get at least one win in Phoenix, where they have not won since November 2019.
Dallas will need someone other than Doncic to provide offensive firepower if they want to accomplish the feat.
“He had a great game, but no one else showed,” Kidd said. “We’ve got to get other guys shooting the ball better. We can’t win with just him out there scoring 30 a night. Not this time of the year and playing the best team in the league.”
Bullock was the Mavericks’ second-leading scorer with 16 points. Spencer Dinwiddie had 11 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Davis Bertans went 3-of-6 from three-point range to finish with nine points, all in the first half. Jalen Brunson added nine points.
A second consecutive slow start foreshadowed the Mavericks’ loss. The Suns raced out to a quick 9-0 lead, but Dallas responded better than in Game One. The Mavericks slowly fought back and took their first lead of the series at 41-38 after a Bertans three-pointer with 7:56 remaining in the second quarter.
Doncic made three consecutive three-pointers to close the quarter and maintain a 60-58 halftime lead for Dallas. Doncic had 24 points at halftime.
Fouls were a big part of the first half as the officiating crew called 30 fouls before halftime. Midway through the second period, officials called four offensive fouls over five possessions in the span of 47 seconds.
Two key Mavericks, Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith, picked up two fouls each within the first eight minutes of the game. Finney-Smith sat the final 14:27 of the first half and picked up his fourth a couple of minutes after halftime. In all, seven players had at least four fouls for a total of 54, 11 more than in Game One.
The Suns erased the Mavericks’ halftime lead after Booker hit back-to-back three-pointers early in the third. Booker had 12 points, two rebounds, and two assists in the third quarter for the Suns to take an 89-83 advantage in the fourth.
Brunson opened the third-quarter scoring with a three-pointer to cut the Dallas deficit to 89-86. Then Phoenix, powered by Paul, outscored the Mavericks 40-23 to close the game.
“The mood is fine,” Doncic said. “I think a lot of players, it’s the first time in this situation. They’ve got to win four, so it’s not over yet. We are going to go back home. Our crowd is amazing.”