Just two days removed from waxing the San Antonio Spurs in Dallas to open the season, the Mavericks fell on the road, 114-102, to a Phoenix Suns team that was p
laying its second game in as many days. Not only that, but the Suns were coming off of a loss against an LA Lakers team on Friday night in a game where they held an 18-point lead, yet could not hold on. Despite the emotional loss, they rallied pregame to come into the matchup and defeat the Mavericks on Saturday night in a game that was never really in question for the Suns.
Last season, Phoenix had the worst fourth-quarter point differential, posting an atrocious -198 in this category in 2023-24, something they aim to turn around this year. They got off to a good start doing so tonight – though Dallas made it somewhat interesting during stretches in the final period, it was not enough to overcome the 11-point lead that the Suns built over the first three quarters.
These misses weren't all for a lack of good looks, either – the Mavericks ran plenty of good sets, but they simply could not convert on their attempts. They connected on just 13 of 41 shots from beyond the arc, as compared to Phoenix, who hit a more respectable 35.9%. It just wasn't Dallas' night in multiple facets of the game, as they came out low energy.
The foul disparity can be chalked up to a lack of aggressive offense in regards to driving the ball for Dallas, as well as less enthusiastic defense where players were forced to foul due to being out of position. This doesn't work against teams like the Suns and stardid perform well, scoring 40 points and recording 10 rebounds on 12-of-25 from the field. He also added four assists.
While these kind of nights are going to happen in the NBA, it doesn't help that it was against a team that actually had an excuse to be lower-intensity like the Suns did after losing the previous night. Dallas should have come out more motivated, which is something that will surely be drilled in before the Mavericks' next game, against the Jazz on Monday, October 28.
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