The Dallas Mavericks slumped to a 114-121 loss to the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their second-round matchup. While the final score makes it look like this was a very close game, that isn’t the whole story. The Mavs trailed for most of the game, including trailing by 15 points at the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
A lot of garbage time buckets helped the Mavs mount a comeback when the game was already realistically out of their hands. The offense didn’t click today, as all Mavericks not named Luka Doncic and Maxi Kleber struggled against the #1 seed. Doncic had a 45-point night, but Phoenix was catapulted by having all five starters score 10 points or more.
This was eerily familiar to Doncic’s situation for the last two seasons against the LA Clippers where they managed to stifle the production of everyone but Luka, who had historic performances. Fans on Twitter reacted to this series looking like it’ll be decisively in the favor of the Suns, who have now won 10 consecutive games (including reg. season) over Dallas.
Luka Doncic tonight:
45 PTS
12 REB
8 AST
4 3PT
15-30 FG
This dude is incredible. pic.twitter.com/Y9TivlMqEi
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 3, 2022
Luka Doncic’s back carrying this Mavs team pic.twitter.com/vGRKVIE8Nb
— mev 🏀🧸🌹 (@mevvybear) May 3, 2022
Even in a loss, the ability of Luka Dončić to walk into 45-12-8 — at this age — is simply comical. Otherworldly. We’ve really only seen one player that makes it look this easy, and that’s LeBron.
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) May 3, 2022
Luka Doncic tonight: pic.twitter.com/hEPP3J26pp
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) May 3, 2022
Mavs should feel fine. Suns have no answer for Luka. Phoenix got every rebound & hit 3 desperation end of shot clock shots in the 2nd half that killed any comeback attempt.
This series is going the distance, and I like Luka’s chances at the end of it.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) May 3, 2022
Watching Devin Booker guard Jalen Brunson compared to Donovan Mitchell…
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) May 3, 2022
Chris Paul has won 10 straight games vs the Mavs in the Luka era. pic.twitter.com/gcysSLfnjj
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 3, 2022
devin booker saw luka was guarding him and looked at him like the way them cartoon dogs would look at steaks lol
— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) May 3, 2022
Suns are now 51-10 this year in games both Chris Paul and Devin Booker play.
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) May 3, 2022
https://twitter.com/CantGuardBook1/status/1521330769834172416https://twitter.com/SunsfanTrey/status/1521314499088687104
Deandre Ayton is the player Kristaps Porzingis thinks he is.
Dude is splashing jumpers in our bigs’ eyes and putting all of our smalls in the basket
— Uncle Block (@517to214) May 3, 2022
They had Ayton practicing against the equipment managers to get used to dealing with the Mavs bigs.
— Bibs (@BibsCorner) May 3, 2022
I don’t think the Suns can be beat by any team in a 7-game series when Deandre Ayton plays this well. It’s too much firepower.
— Max (@maxmcc11) May 3, 2022
Spencer Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson HAVE to show up next game
— Dallas Sports Topic (Sadness) (@BIGDSportsTopic) May 3, 2022
The Suns proved why they had the best record in the NBA through this game. This was a comprehensive performance with some excellent shot-making. Every time the Mavericks tried going on a run to cut down some distance between them and the Suns, Phoenix made some shot that would be a morale killer.
The Mavericks don’t match up very well against Phoenix, with Doncic being the only one who can create something out of nothing. The Utah Jazz played sloppy basketball and it seems the Mavs were a little unprepared for the intensity Phoenix opened the game up, with Dallas giving up an early lead they could never recover.
The Suns will be the favorite to win the series, but Dallas are bound to fight back through Luka Doncic and hopefully, the supporting cast shows up and play how they did against Utah.
