With 18 games still to go after Sunday, a matinee matchup with the Dallas Mavericks was as much of a “must win” as the Phoenix Suns must win, and they did so in a 125-116 final.
The magnitude of importance stems more from the rumblings of a colossal closing schedule, as opposed to the implications on the standings.
Of those 18 games, 13 for Phoenix are against teams in a top-six playoff position in their respective conferences. The other five are a pair against the surging Sacramento Kings, a potentially vital matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in the second-to-last contest of the year and two must-haves against Toronto and Chicago in a week’s time.
Fortunately for the Suns (30-34), their battle for the 10-seed and a place in the postseason will come down to who sucks less out of them, Dallas (32-33), Portland (28-36) and San Antonio (26-35). It is highly improbable any of those four squads tear off a major run in this final month. The test comes down to who can tread water the best.
Dallas is so shorthanded that it was missing the guys you expect to step up when the main contributors are out. Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist sprain) are nursing injuries while Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Kyrie Irving (left ACL tear), Dereck Lively II (right ankle fracture) and P.J. Washington (right ankle sprain) are too. That left the Mavericks with nine available players, two of whom are on minutes restriction.
Still, three of the Mavericks’ five leaders in minutes played were out there on Sunday in Spencer Dinwiddie, Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall. That’s not a lot of firepower per se but there is at least familiarity with the system on the floor.
This win, like the rest that will follow for the remainder of the season, was defined by the Suns’ extreme shooting efficiency making up for their extreme team deficiencies in other areas.
Phoenix began the game with three straight turnovers and Dallas was up to eight points off turnovers six minutes in. The Suns went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter up eight and extended the lead to 15, only for Dallas to cut it to six at halftime despite Phoenix shooting 60%.
In the Mavericks’ current state, it’s going to be a challenge to reach 110 points, which is slightly below league average. They didn’t really have too much of an issue creating open jumpers on Sunday. It was just a matter of making enough of them.
So, as long as Phoenix kept the gears of its own shot-making spinning well enough, it would be the victors.
The Suns’ field goal percentage went up to 63.9% through three quarters to lead by 11, a period in which Dwight Powell and Kessler Edwards collided heads to send them both out and put the Mavericks down to seven available players, all of them under 6-foot-7.
As Dallas did a few times earlier in the game, it continued to claw back at the growing deficit. It started the fourth quarter generating open 3 after open 3 off Suns center Mason Plumlee staying in the paint, something a perimeter defense can make up for if there’s enough effort, but we know the story there.
Phoenix adjusted up eight with nine minutes left by going small itself. Edwards, a 6-foot-7 wing that was Dallas’ “starting center,” returned a few minutes later while its leading scorer from Friday’s loss Brandon Williams did not play in the fourth quarter due a hamstring injury.
Dallas missed six of its next seven shots at that point, tossing in a turnover that let the Suns balloon their lead back to 16 with 4:35 to go. That was the last gasp.
Low 3-point volume for the Suns, 10-for-28 (35.7%), might appear first glance as a lack of desire to get those up but their ball movement was good enough most of the afternoon to toss that type of notion aside. They managed 33 assists and only 10 turnovers, meaning it was only five giveaways for the remaining three-and-a-half quarters.
This was the second straight strong game for Devin Booker after historic low shooting volume for him at the beginning of the week suggested he was dealing with some problems, perhaps his right knee. He ended up with 24 points (10-of-21), three rebounds, six assists, a steal and one turnover in 38 minutes.
Kevin Durant was 8-of-15 for 21 points, plus nine rebounds, eight assists and six turnovers. Bradley Beal also had 19 points (7-of-10), three rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers in 29 minutes. Beal was hobbled at one point in the game and after initially checking in for the game’s finish, he was pulled for Collin Gillespie to get a few minutes late.
Grayson Allen made a few key hustle plays for 17 points and this was another good game for Plumlee (13 points), who has been better over this last pocket of fixtures.
Marshall produced a career-high 34 points to go with nine rebounds, 10 assists and two steals in 41 minutes. He’s had a good year after getting paid and will be a critical supplementary piece for Dallas next season when its back to full strength. Thompson added 26 points (8-for-20) and easily could have caught fire in a vintage showing with the jumpers he was able to get off. Those days, however, appear far past him at this stage of his career.
Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio will find out in two weeks time if the Mavericks will be joining them in this race for the last play-in spot. The Spurs themselves have their own version of this game twice, hosting Dallas on Monday and Wednesday. Assuming they take care of business, the following four games after that for Dallas are against Houston, Philadelphia, Indiana and Detroit. Is Dallas on the outside looking in by then? It’s very likely.
