The Suns have been the joke of NBA since mid-May and will continue to be until they do something about it. They also play average basketball, so winning against Mavericks was huge.
They lost many matches, talk about Game 7, the blowout loss and playoff elimination at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks.
But it seems that things are about to change this season as they shocked their naysayers with a shocking comeback win over the same Mavericks.
The Mavericks came back from vacation in the season opener on Wednesday playing at an extremely high level and they were getting it right.
Well, at least in the first half that was being dubbed “Game 8.” Then the second half ensued in a dumbfounding and remarkable 107-105 Phoenix victory.
The Monty Williams Suns took over the game. After they were down as many as 22 in a first half that shared far too similarities with that Game 7, a 31-19 third quarter fueled by ferocious defense and intent to push the pace offensively bafflingly had it down to a five-point game going into the closing 12 minutes.
Williams said his squad was making so many small mistakes in defensive rotations, with guys making the wrong decisions and allowing the defense to get really stretched out, thus much easier to dissect.
The Suns got back down 15 points in the fourth thanks to new Mavs big man Christian Wood scoring his team’s last 16 points.
But guard Devin Booker checked back in with 8:30 to go and did the superstar thing, leading a comeback through a wonderful two-man game with Deandre Ayton.
Dallas’ traps that had plagued Booker in the past were neutralized by a quick pass to Ayton in the short roll before the trap collapsed and the two of them thrived in that space the rest of the way.
Ayton was, as Williams put it, “amazing” in the second half specifically. He finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes while Booker was the leading scorer at 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting in 41 minutes to go with nine assists.
Doncic ended up at 35 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He was the best player on the court by far in the first half but what Booker got done in winning time made that gap a lot tighter by the closing ceremonies.
Paul was 1-of-6 from the field for six points with nine assists in 30 minutes.