The Phoenix Suns certainly looked like part of the best placed in the Western Conference in their semifinal match against the Dallas Mavericks, and the latest example was in Game 2 on Wednesday night, when the Suns escaped with a 129-109 victory and took the lead in the series. 2-0. What started as a back-and-forth game with the Mavericks, who held a two-point lead before halftime, quickly spiraled out of control in the fourth quarter when Chris Paul took over and postponed the game to Phoenix.
Paul finished the game with 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Booker scored 30 points in the victory. Four of Phoenix’s top five players ended the double-digit match as the Suns managed to find a match in which Deandre Ayton played just 19 minutes due to foul problems.
Luka Doncic once again showed a show for the Mavericks, finishing with 35 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. Reggie Bullock added 16 of his own points to help with the loss, but that was not enough to overcome Suns’ difficult defense.
The series is now moving to Dallas, where Match 3 will take place on Friday. Here are three excerpts from Game 2.
1. Master class by Chris Paul
Wednesday night was the perfect reminder not to take Paul’s first-half statistics too seriously. With the Mavericks leading 60-58, Paul had just eight points in a 2-for-6 shot from the pitch. It was a quiet half of the undisputed Point God, but it turned out to be just the silence before the storm for Paul and the Suns.
After a third quarter back and forth, the Suns got to work in the final 12 minutes of the game, led by the flawless work of Paul, who scored 14 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter. Paul got what he wanted in the fourth quarter and did so mostly while chasing Doncic in matches. He enjoyed defending the superstar, showcasing his patented middle-class game.
What’s crazy is that you’d think Doncic would be able to stay in front of the gray-haired veteran guard, but Paul – who looked like he was moving at half speed as he went to work – grabbed Doncic on his hip every time. when he drove to the rim and just kept accumulating points. You’d also think that the Mavericks would try anything to slow Paul down, like trying to trap him and snatch the ball from his hands, but instead it was the CP3 show and he performed every time he touched the ball in the fourth quarter. .
By the time Paul retired at 5:45 left in the fourth quarter, the Suns had increased their 17-point lead and the 36-year-old guard could sit comfortably on the bench, knowing his team had secured the win. That’s how dominant Phoenix was in the fourth because of Paul.
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2. Dallas was trying to stay out of trouble … again
In Game 1, Brunson and Bullock were the ones who opted for expensive early fouls for the Mavericks to limit their production in the first half. Tonight, Dorian Feeney-Smith, Dallas’ best defender, committed three fouls in the first half. On the bright side, the Mavericks managed to extract a great production from Davis Bertans, who caught fire in the first half from a long distance, giving nine points at 3-out of 6 from depth. The loss of Feeney-Smith for most of the first half was not as disastrous for Dallas as it could have been, given that it led by two points in 24 minutes.
However, the foul was not limited to the first half. Brunson finished the game with four fouls, Dwight Powell had five and Feeney-Smith had four. This meant that Dallas could not be as aggressive as they wanted to defend in the second half, which led to 28 points in the fight for the Suns after the half. Fouls by key players such as Feeney-Smith and Brunson also took away their offensive side. Feeney-Smith, who shot 39.5 percent of depth in the first round against Utah while averaging 13.2 points per game, finished the game with just two points in two strikes. He is a crucial part of what Dallas is doing in attack, mainly as a corner 3 specialist who benefits from assists by Doncic and Brunson.
Speaking of Brunson, he finished the game with a minus of 22, scoring just nine points and shooting 25 percent of the field. This is the second consecutive game in which Brunson fights against this stingy defense of the Suns, and his inability to start attacking significantly hindered the Mavericks. Combine that with the fact that Dinuidi has returned to his inefficient way from his previous stay in Washington during the playoffs, and the Mavericks have not received much production from anyone outside Doncic.
Much of this is due to the stellar perimeter protection that Phoenix uses, followed by the legal protection of Ayton and JaVale McGee rims. But still the Mavericks will have to figure out how to put points on the board consistently, otherwise it will be a quick series for them.
3. Is this series returning to Phoenix?
The series is now back in Dallas, with the Suns holding a 2-0 lead and showing no signs of slowing down. The Mavericks showed glimpses that they could fight this team, especially in the last few minutes of Game 1, where they tried to return by storm, and in the first half of Game 2, where they looked like they could win this game.
However, the Suns are not a team you can afford to make a lot of mistakes against, and there will be little room for error in Game 3 on Friday. Some adjustments that Mavericks can make are working harder to fight over the screens so that Doncic is not caught in sight every time he travels down the floor. If Paul and Booker are able to pursue Doncic every time, then this series will end quickly.
In an attack, Dallas just needs more than Brunson and Dinuidi. Bullock did his best in Game 2 to help Doncic attack, especially in the third quarter when he scored three consecutive 3 points, but Dallas could not afford to make Brunson have another unpleasant night in which he finishes with only nine points. Part of that is because he gets pointless fouls when he’s thrown into switches and gets the task of guarding Ayton, but the Suns will continue to change and lure him into fouls, so he has to make sure he can at least produce the other end.
If the Mavericks can’t figure it out when they host the next two games at the American Airlines Center, then there will be no need to arrange trips back to Phoenix for Game 5 or later.
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