The Mavericks fans had the Luka-Booker memes locked and loaded as the Mavs pulled up by 16 in the 2nd quarter. Then the cardiac Suns pulled out the defibrillator for the third time in the past 8 days and completely flipped the script, going on a 42-9 run and rolling to a 132-109 victory, their 7th in a row, now the NBA’s league leading streak.
The NBA chose wisely for Rivals Week as the two teams showed right from the start that they do not like each other. The game was chippy and filled with seven technical fouls. Much of it centered around Grant Williams and Jusuf Nurkic. In the first half, they both got a technical along with Kevin Durant, as Williams stood over KD and Nurkic pushed him and everyone started jawing.
In the second half, Williams got tossed after getting his second technical for arguing after the ref didn’t call a charge or a tech on Nurkic as Nurk scored on Williams and then stared his way.
Apart from the shenanigans, it was all going the Mavs way in the first half, as they hit 11 of 22 three-pointers. They were of course led by Luka who had 24 points in the first half. They went up 51 to 35. The Suns then began their furious 42-9 run bridging both halves, cutting the deficit to 1 at halftime. Luka would only score 10 in the 2nd half and finish with 34. He let his frustration get the better of him as he asked for a Suns fan to be tossed from the game.
Luka was not in a good mood after the game, leading to this very interesting exchange with the media.
But the man who was all smiles was the Suns leading scorer, Devin Booker, who poured in 46 points despite being pulled with around 4 minutes left, shooting a blistering 17-23 and tying his oft-generated regular season high of 6 three-pointers. He threw in 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals for good measure. Now 10-3 against Luka in the regular season, he was even blowing kisses to the crowd.
Next up in scoring for the Suns was Bradley Beal with 20 points and Grayson Allen with 15. Beal shot 8-15 and Allen made 5-8, including 3-5 on threes. He is still the league’s leader in 3-point percentage, hitting over 49 percent. Beal flashed the all-around game, chipping in 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Is he the best third option in the league now?
Kevin Durant had one of the lowest scoring games you’ll ever see from him with 12 points on 4-10 shooting. But his defense and playmaking continued to be elite as he finished with 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. He was recently the player of the week in the Western Conference and he’s showing he’s an MVP candidate because he plays both ends of the floor. Vogel gave him credit after the game.
In addition to KD, two players whose defense continues to stand out recently in the win streak is Josh Okogie and Keita Bates-Diop. Both had a huge effect on this game. KBD probably had his best game, finishing with 11 points on 5-7 shooting. But Okogie’s hustle and grit was especially infectious, though he ended up with 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. He hounded Luka throughout.
It was another great team win, possibly their most complete of the season. The Suns shot exactly 60 percent, 51-85. They made 41.2 percent of their threes. They pummeled the Mavs on the boards, 49-33. They had 10 steals and doubled up the Mavs in stocks (steals + blocks) 14-7.
Can the Suns make it 8 in a row on Friday as they face the Pacers, likely without Haliburton again? For anyone still doubting the Suns, Devin Booker has a message for ya.
