PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns showed the Dallas Mavericks what the second round is like. And it was rude.
A dominant, never-in-doubt, 121-114 Game 1 win stakes the Suns to a 1-0 series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
A balanced scoring effort from the Suns featured six players in double-figures, and scorching hot shooting from virtually the entire roster.
DeAndre Ayton gave the Mavericks fits all night, finishing with 25 points to lead the Suns in scoring, on 12-20 shooting from the field. Devin Booker added 21 points of his own, and Chris Paul picked his spots to make a few clutch buckets, and help keep the Suns in control, finishing with 19 points on the night.
“I think our defense lost us the game today," Mavs guard Luka Doncic said. "I think our start on the defensive end was terrible. And we’ve got to change that. I know we can play way better defense, and I know we will, in the next games."
As a team, Phoenix shot 50.5% from the floor – including 63.4% in the first half – taking advantage of wide open looks all through the game.
“We just did a terrible job communicating today," Mavs forward Maxi Kleber said of their defensive effort. "Everybody has to do a better job talking.”
Doncic was very good, especially in the first half, pouring in 26 points in the first two frames, to help keep the Mavs in touch.
He ran out of gas a bit in the third quarter, in his effort to keep the Mavs in the basketball game. But then he turned it on again in the fourth, finishing with 45 points on 15-30 shooting, along with 12 rebounds and eight assists. He also showed a bit of a limp in the 4th quarter, after working so hard for the baskets he was able to find.
Maxi Kleber was impactful for Dallas in the first half, hitting five of his first six three-pointers. But he petered out in the second half, finishing with 19 points, after scoring 16 in the first half.
Beyond those two, no Mavericks players did much of substance. Jalen Brunson struggled mightily, shooting 6-16 from the field. At least four of his made shots came when the game was out of reach. He seemed to really struggle with the length of the Suns defense. Spencer Dinwiddie made just three shots from the field, and finished with seven points.
The only saving grace for the Mavs is the hope that Phoenix likely won’t shoot 60-plus percent from the field all series long, like they did for most of Game 1. But if that number is going to change, the Dallas defense will have to play a significant role in that. The volume of wide-open looks the Suns had all night is the kind of stuff that will keep head coach Jason Kidd up at night.
“We didn’t come out with the right energy. Maybe as a team we were a little bit nervous," Kleber said. "It's very important in the next game to come out with the right mindset.”
The Suns jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:29 of the game, capitalizing on two Luka Doncic turnovers, and a Doncic missed jumper. The first turnover led to a Suns runout, finished on a Mikal Bridges alley-oop from Devin Booker. Jae Crowder hit a straightaway three pointer to extend the Suns game-opening run to 9-0.
The early turnovers were Dallas’ undoing, and allowed Phoenix to jump all over them.
Dallas rebounded slightly, to play Phoenix even the balance of the quarter. Doncic eventually got rolling, and finished the opening stanza 5-9 from the field, with 14 points, 4 rebounds, and a pair of assists. Maxi Kleber hit all three of his 3-point attempts.
But Devin Booker racked up 13 points and 6 rebounds in the first quarter, Ayton added another 9 points of his own, and the Suns used balanced scoring from there to lead by 10 after one period, 35-25.
Kleber stayed hot into the second quarter, hitting on five of his first six 3-point attempts, to help keep the Mavs in touch. But the Suns second unit, led by Jae Crowder’s 4-4 start to the game, extended the Suns lead back out to 13 points, at 51-38.
The Mavs then finally staged their first legitimate run of the game, pouring in nine straight points to cut the Phoenix lead to just four points. Reggie Bullock hit a three and drew the foul, completing a four-point play. Doncic hit a deep three. And then he set up Dwight Powell for an alley-oop, and it was 51-47 Suns.
But DeAndre Ayton remained a problem for the Mavs, scoring back-to-back buckets to edge the lead back to eight. And then in the final few minutes of the second quarter, Chris Paul decided to briefly take the game over. A gorgeous spinning move to evade Dwight Powell led to a jumper from 18 feet. Then on the next trip down the floor, he hit a filthy, step-back three-pointer, to suddenly jump the Suns lead back to 13, at 65-52.
Doncic stayed hot, hitting a bucket and a couple free throws in the final minute and a half of the second quarter, to finish the half with 26 points on 8-18 shooting. But an Ayton 18-footer kept Dallas at bay, extending the lead back to 13 at halftime, at 69-56.
Doncic had 26, Kleber had 16. The two combined for those 42 points on 13-23 shooting. The rest of the Mavs roster combined for just 14 first half points, on a putrid 5-of-19 shooting (26.3%).
In the third quarter, the Suns kept it going, building the lead to as much as 18 points, on a Cameron Payne three-pointer. Cameron Johnson was also key in the Suns run, knocking down a pair of triples. The run would continue into the fourth quarter, punctuated by a JaVale McGee steal, picking the pocket of Doncic, followed by a monster dunk from McGee, to extend the lead to its largest, at 21, when the Suns led 106-85.
In a bizarre finish, the Mavs would quietly whittle the Suns lead down to as little as five points in the final minute, making Phoenix push to the finish line. It was a sleepy finish to the game, with the Suns keeping the Mavs at arms length for most of the fourth.
But a quick Dallas spurt suddenly got the lead to single digits, and created some momentary intrigue. But ultimately the Suns would hold them off, for the seven-point final margin.