Suns’ bench provides spark in win over Mavericks

On a night when many of the Suns’ starters took a while to get going, the bench picked up the slack Friday.

The Dallas Mavericks led 84-79 entering the fourth quarter, but Suns reserves Cameron Johnson, JaVale McGee and Landry Shamet scored to give Phoenix the lead back less than three minutes into the period.

This kicked off a 24-6 run for Phoenix to put the game out of reach. The Suns won 112-104, their 11th straight victory and second win over Dallas in three days.

Phoenix’s bench outscored Dallas’ 43-31.

McGee had the best plus-minus of the second unit Friday at plus-13. His rolls to the basket led to some thunderous dunks like this:

One more look. 🎥 pic.twitter.com/L4aNL3PHd2

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 20, 2021

And this:

One way or another, CP3’s gonna find you #ValleyProud pic.twitter.com/sE5Ntfl5v3

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) November 20, 2021

McGee finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

Johnson provided 13 points in 22 minutes and was a plus-8.

The starters finished the job late as Devin Booker found his groove and Chris Paul continued to step up in the clutch.

The Suns won the fourth quarter 33-20.

Booker and forward Mikal Bridges led the team in scoring with 19 points each Friday night.

Six Suns scored double-digit points with three of those players coming off the bench. Backup guard Cam Payne had 10.

Phoenix’s next matchup is a Sunday battle against the Denver Nuggets. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. from the Footprint Center and you can listen in at ESPN 620 AM / 98.7 FM HD-2.

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