Suns get ‘closer to a complete game’ in win over Mavericks
Oct 26, 2024, 11:18 PM | Updated: Oct 28, 2024, 1:08 pm
(Felisa Cardenas/Arizona Sports)
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns showing fight and focus through the process of growth is what’s needed at the start of the year, and Saturday’s 114-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks was a proper step back in that direction.
“I think we played closer to a complete game,” Devin Booker said. “We were stressing when we were up early in the second quarter, we’ve given up leads this year, so just trying to still keep a sense of urgency.”
Phoenix wasn’t perfect on either end but feigned off a Dallas team that put together a few different quality stretches to hang around. Through that, the Suns rebounded enough and took care of the ball enough while knocking down enough shots as well.
In what is hard to believe considering the recent history of this matchup, the Suns bested the Mavericks at both the foul line (28-15) and from beyond the arc (14-13). Going back 14 total meetings the last two seasons including the playoffs, Phoenix has only made more free throws than Dallas twice and just once converted more 3s, never in the same game.
Again, it doesn’t take a ton beyond filling in the gaps and not hurting yourselves to win a basketball game when you’re ahead in those two areas. Second-chance points were 10-9 Suns and their 11 turnovers resulted in only 11 Dallas points.
Bradley Beal was out due to a sore right elbow. He told Arizona Sports he hopes to play Monday and that it’s nothing serious. This paved the way for rookie Ryan Dunn to make his first career start.
While it is not an opinion getting endorsed in this space, it has been a hot discussion point that Beal would be best utilized off the bench, which always makes nights like this interesting since the Suns getting rolling with Dunn (or anyone else) starting in Beal’s place would build up that momentum. Phoenix’s default starting lineup through two games was a woeful -21 in 19 minutes.
To be fair, Beal was the Suns’ best player through two contests, and he played very well alongside some of the reserves over that time. Players on mega-salaries like Beal rarely make this transition, as there is an unspoken (or sometimes spoken) hierarchy there that has existed in the NBA for decades.
The possibility will loom over this team if either 1) the Suns thrive in segments of the season when Beal is missing time or 2) Beal is having clear struggles fitting in.
Saturday wasn’t either of those, but with that said, the discourse will only get sparked further if Dunn keeps playing like he did on Saturday. He drilled three of his six attempts from 3, and even though he struggled with foul trouble while defending a 40-burger from Luka Doncic, he affected Doncic on a handful of possessions in a way no one else on the roster is capable of. There’s a learning curve he’s picking up on some of the fouls stars can draw, as evidenced by his five.
And that’s actually a good thing. Let Durant explain.
“I just love his poise, I love that he’s physical, I like that he’s actually fouling,” Durant said. “I’d rather you be physical and erre on the side of physicality and then you have to rein yourself in a little bit from there instead of playing soft and trying to move up to the physicality.”
Dunn in his first three games has defended James Harden, LeBron James and Doncic. He has been diligent with tape study, as well as asking the veterans on the team what he should be watching for. Dunn didn’t know he was starting until half-hour before the game but had already watched a lot of Doncic (and Kyrie Irving) to prepare.
“That’s a crazy lineup,” Booker said of who Dunn has defended so far. “We’re all trying to give our two cents to him but experience is the best teacher. He’s picking up on things, he wants to learn and he pays attention. He usually doesn’t make the same mistake twice. That’s a mature rookie.”
Dunn does think he has improved as a defender over this one week already but also noted his foul count.
“I think I did a decent job,” Dunn said. “[Doncic] also had 40, which is just crazy to me. I think it’s just improving and seeing what I can do.”
Dallas’ offense started to get some shots to fall in the back-half of the second quarter but Jusuf Nurkic scored 12 straight points in under four minutes to keep Dallas at bay. The Mavericks went small and Nurkic was able to find the right touch around the basket. It was a sizable moment for him after struggling immensely the night prior and not looking much better in the first quarter.
An Irving touch shot put Dallas within six at 9:20 remaining before it went on to miss six straight shots, a few of which were quality looks. Phoenix finally responded with 3s via Dunn and Durant to buffer up the lead to a dozen.
“That’s a huge play for us and I think that’s what got us going,” Durant said of Dunn’s 3.
Nurkic ended up with 19 points, 14 rebounds and five turnovers. Durant downplayed the giveaways and liked how Nurkic “kept it simple.” Nurkic said he feels like he’s been overpassing to try and fit into a new system and not being as aggressive but multiple times noted how he has to play better.
“That’s way too much. … I like what I want to do but it’s not working so I have to be better, plain and simple,” Nurkic said of his turnovers.
“You gotta realize, teams’ gameplan is to play super physical on us, muck the game up, so we’re gonna have some turnovers just trying to fight through that,” Durant said of the 38 combined in the first two games.
This was not a bounce-back explosion from Booker, an outcome that was the most logical guess beforehand after he failed to perform in the first two games of the year. But what he has been doing the best four days into the season has been attacking the basket to create ball movement and 3s. He only had five assists on Saturday but it was much more impactful than that. He continues to look for his shot, going 4-of-12 for 21 points, five assists and one turnover.
Durant’s shot-making was pristine and the constant presence of it was ultimately what won the Suns the game. He produced 31 points, nine rebounds, two assists, a steal, a block and turnover. Both guys had their best defensive games of the season.
Royce O’Neale is now +46 through three games, the seventh-highest mark leaguewide. He has done so while scoring a total of 19 points. O’Neale might not jump off the screen most nights but if you make a mental note of when he makes a nice pass, sets a smart screen, grabs a big rebound or contains something defensively, you’ll run out of bandwidth in your noggin real quick.
And O’Neale did have a highlight play anyway, which followed him leaking out for a layup and then sprinting back into this play.
ROYCE WITH THE CHASEDOWN BLOCK 😱 pic.twitter.com/zgqm9QNFWO
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 27, 2024
“That play was just game-changing,” Durant said of it. “I think that play, coaches around the country and world can show that type of effort to their team.”
O’Neale finished with seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and that block in 27 minutes. Grayson Allen was out for the second straight game due to personal reasons, making O’Neale’s play all the more important.
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