Mavericks humiliate Suns
Dallas leads by as much as 46 during Game 7 blowout
PHOENIX — The first sign that Phoenix was in trouble was when Luka Doncic coolly swished his first three shots, but no one in Footprint Center fathomed what was to become.
Nor comprehend it when it did happen.
Dallas’ utter dominance. Phoenix’s epic ineptitude.
The combination of extremes snowballed into a mind-boggling 123-90 Mavericks victory Sunday night in the clinching Game 7 of this Western Conference semifinal series.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said he told his team before the game, ”Play hard, have fun, enjoy. You’re never guaranteed to come back. You’re never guaranteed to play in a Game 7 in your career, so just enjoy the moment, and execute the game plan.” They did. And how.
Doncic hammered the reigning conference champion Suns with 35 points and 10 rebounds, and Spencer Dinwiddie poured in 30 points as the No. 4 seed Mavericks advanced to the Western Conference finals, where they will face Golden State beginning Wednesday in San Francisco.
“I can’t get this smile off my face,” Doncic said. “I’m just really happy. Honestly, I think we deserved this.”
Midway through the fourth quarter, “Let’s Go Mavs!” chants of Dallas fans filled the otherwise silent arena where, 11 days earlier, fans had shouted “Suns in four! Suns in four!” as Phoenix took a 2-0 series lead.
“We played all season to be in this situation,” Suns guard Chris Paul said. “It didn’t work out for us.”
Last June, Dallas’ postseason ended in a first-round Game 7 defeat in Los Angeles against the Clippers, blowing a 2-0 series lead and triggering a chain of events that resulted in the departures of general manager Donnie Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle.
But at 7:08 p.m. Sunday West Coast time in arid Arizona, the Mavericks completed an improbable rally from a 2-0 series deficit, becoming only the
26th NBA team to do so, in 328 attempts.
The Mavericks had lost Games 1, 2 and 5 here by 9, 20 and 30 points and hadn’t won in Footprint Center since November of 2019.
On this night Dallas took a 27-17 lead after one quarter, then, unbelievably, stretched its advantage to 57-27 at halftime and 92-50 after three quarters.
Early in the third quarter, Doncic had as many points, 27, as the entire Suns team.
The Suns All-star backcourt of Paul and Devin Booker shot a combined 0-for-11 in the first half, and Booker didn’t make his first basket until five minutes remained in the third quarter.
“That group has a lot of character and integrity and I know how bad they wanted it,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “We just could not execute tonight. Couldn’t make a shot early, that messed with us a little bit and Dallas played their tails of from start to finish.”