Suns make it 2 straight
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Devin Booker scored 30 points and the Phoenix Suns erased a double-digit deficit while their All-Star guard was on the bench with foul trouble, rallying for a 117-115 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.
The Suns have won both games in the restart after coming in with the worst record among Western
Conference teams in the bubble. They’re still long shots for the playoffs, while the Mavericks clinched their first postseason berth since 2016 by virtue of Memphis’ loss to San Antonio earlier in the day.
“This kind of game is going to help us grow, especially a young team like we are,” said Phoenix guard Ricky Rubio, who had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. “You can’t practice that. Coming here will help it. Now that we’re here, chances are super low. But we have a chance. That’s why we’re here.”
Luka Doncic had 40 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Mavericks, whose hopes of moving up from the seventh seed are fading with an 0-2 start in the eight-game seeding round.
Booked fouled out with 1:26 remaining, and the Mavericks pulled within two on a layup from Doncic. The Phoenix lead was still two in the final seconds when Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 30, barely grazed the front of the rim on a 3.
Dallas got another chance when a possession call was overturned on review with 3.3 seconds to go, but Tim Hardaway Jr.’s 3 was off the mark, leaving the Mavericks 1 of 18 from long range in the second half.
“Like I just told them, this is what I wanted to experience in this bubble was something like this where we just had our backs against the wall and across the board we got efforts