Mavs’ mistake led to Booker’s game winner
Monty Williams knew Dallas had “been trying to get a win for a minute.”
The Mavericks have been trying even longer to beat Phoenix.
They hadn’t knocked off the Suns since Nov. 29, 2019, when Luka Doncic went for 42 points and 11 assists in a 120113 road win.
It looked as if they’d finally be on the winning end of a matchup against the Suns, but Phoenix once again turned them away in beating the Mavs for a sixth straight time, and in turn, extended Dallas’ current losing streak to six games.
“To be able to win a game like that when you know you haven’t played your best basketball,” Williams said. “... When we needed to make plays, we showed a level of resiliency and there was never any quit in our guys.”
Phoenix won at Dallas twice in three days with the latter coming Monday in dramatic fashion as Devin Booker splashed a 3 with 1.5 seconds left in an 109-108 thriller.
Returning to action after missing four games with a left hamstring strain, Booker scored 15 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter capped by the winner over Josh Richardson.
“I’ve been waiting to get back out there,” Booker said. “I think we’re making a push right now. We’re coming in locked in throughout. The last win was really big win for us, too. To get this second one on a road trip is great energy moving into the next one.”
Winners of three straight, Phoenix (11-8) looks to close out a three-game road trip with a victory Wednesday at New Orleans, where Williams started his head coaching career.
“We want to try to make this a great trip,” he said.
Here’s a look back at Phoenix’s two wins to complete a three-game season series sweep of the Mavericks and ahead to facing the Pelicans in a 7:30 p.m. game on ESPN.
Player of back-to-back wins in Dallas: Chris Paul
Booker hit the biggest shot of the two games, but missed Saturday’s 111-105 victory with the injury.
Frank Kaminsky III had two solid games off the bench as he scored 11 Monday night, but Paul delivered back-toback vintage performances.
Saturday – 29 points (16 in the fourth quarter), 12 assists (5 in the fourth), 4 steals.
Monday – 34 points (season high), 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals.
Paul’s final assist was to Booker on the game-winning 3. He did have five turnovers Monday, but Paul has turned up the aggression.
The veteran point guard isn’t deferring to Booker nearly as much as he did to start the season. He looks in better condition and been clutch at crunch time.
10 seconds remaining
Paul had ran what proved to be the game-winning play Monday night while playing for Doc Rivers when they were with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“That’s a play we used to run for JJ Redick a lot of times,” Paul said.
So when drawing it up, Williams looked at Paul and said, ‘this is JJ’s play.”
Williams admitted he didn’t come up with the play, but it’s no surprise he got it from one of his major coaching influences in Rivers.
“Doc is somebody I’ve always admired as far as his end-of-game plays,” Williams said.
With a database of plays, Williams pulled from the ATOs (after timeout) section down two points with 10 seconds left and called one that had multiple actions.
10 seconds left: Paul took the baseline inbounds pass from Cam Johnson on the right wing as Booker was the only player on the left side of the free throw line.
7.7 seconds: Johnson sprinted to the
other side of the court while Paul looked to have Maxi Kleber, who was guarding Mikal Bridges, switch onto him on the right wing.
6.8 seconds: Johnson curled off Booker into the paint and Bridges ran interference with Dorian Finney-Smith that led to Kleber switching onto Paul.
“They way they were playing defense, we knew they’d be aggressive trying not to let us get an easy two,” Kaminsky III said. ‘Mikal really ran that play well. Chris got himself open.”
5.8 seconds: With Johnson in the lane occupying Doncic, Paul found himself near the sidelines with the 6-10 Kleber hovering on him as Deandre Ayton looked to set a screen at the free throw line for Booker, who was being defended by Richardson.
4.4 seconds: Bridges ran into the lane and drew two defenders in Doncic and Finney-Smith while Johnson drifted to the left corner. With Mavs big Kristaps Porziņģis staying in the lane as Ayton was at the top of the key, Booker got a step on Richardson off Ayton’s screen as Paul turned to find him with Kleber still hovering.
“He knew the timing of (the play),” said Williams about Paul.
3.3 seconds: Paul hit Booker with a bounce pass in stride with Richardson trailing.
2.6. seconds: Booker got the shot off with Richardson contesting.
1.5 seconds: Booker hit the 3. Timeout Dallas.
“What people don’t understand is it is so hard to get off a shot in those moments,” Williams said. “The execution of the play was all those guys on the
floor.”
‘Really bad mistake’
Dallas helped Phoenix out by not taking a foul, something Kleber could’ve done while draped on Paul as the Mavs had one to give.
“Our whole last timeout was about taking that foul,” Richardson said.
The Mavericks didn’t and Booker hit the shot, leaving Rick Carlisle devastated.
“(Booker) makes that shot and that’s one of the reasons we were going to take the foul,” the Mavs head coach said. “They were going to have to have a second play.”
Phoenix had a timeout remaining if it chose to use it had Dallas taken the foul, but Williams most likely calls a different play since they’d have less time to get off a shot.
What happened instead was Phoenix used 8.5 of the final 10 seconds and left the Mavs with what wound up being a desperation 3 Doncic missed at the horn. “It’s a really bad mistake,” Carlisle added about not taking the foul. “It’s so unfortunate because the game was there.”
Suns welcoming fans back starting Sunday
The franchise announced Tuesday it’ll start having fans Sunday when the Suns play Boston at noon with a special invitation to healthcare workers as guests. This is the start of having fans back at Phoenix Suns Arena starting Monday when the Suns play Cleveland. The arena will have a limit of 1,500 ticketed fans for that game.
In addition, suites will be available for purchase at 25% capacity for each ticketed game after Sunday. Fans must wear masks to enter the arena and wear them at all times unless eating and drinking in ticketed seats.
The Suns are offering complimentary tickets to healthcare workers and their families for Sunday’s game. The franchise is asking healthcare workers looking to get a two-person or four-person “socially-distanced seating pod” to visit Suns.com/HeroTickets and follow the instructions to receive a one-time code to claim tickets via Ticketmaster.
Attendees should arrive with their full party and with a valid healthcare facility ID as these complimentary tickets are non-transferable. Healthcare workers attending Sunday’s game will receive 40% off select items at the team shop.