Mavericks With Disappointing Loss to Suns

The Dallas Mavericks fell short in the final minutes against a struggling Phoenix Suns team. No matter how you slice it, this is a loss that the Mavs can’t afford.

The Dallas Mavericks battled it out with the Phoenix Suns tonight, both teams looking for their 12th win of the season. At the end of the game though, the Eric Bledsoe led Suns prevailed over Dallas. The final score of 102-95 makes yet another game where the Mavs were unable to break 100 points.

The Mavs were looking forward to a reunion with one of the greatest to ever play for the franchise, Tyson Chandler, but it did not go as well as planned as the Mavs were favored to win the game. Phoenix jumps Dallas in the West, putting the Mavericks in dead last once again.

Dallas was led in scoring tonight by Deron Williams with 20 while Harrison Barnes added 19, 14 in the first half. Dirk Nowitzki added an additional 13, while Seth Curry and Devin Harris had 16 and 12, respectively, off the bench. No Mavericks reached double digit assists or steals.

The Suns were led most of the way by the hot hand of Devin Booker, but Bledsoe had the late game heroics, ending with 26. Booker had 22, Brandon Knight had 20, and Tyson Chandler had 18 rebounds.

For the Mavericks, Salah Mejri and Justin Anderson both did not play per Coach’s decision. Many questions have been brought up about why Simba has not found his way into the rotation but no answers have been given as of yet. Mejri will continue to lose minutes as Bogut is coming off the bench now.

If Dallas is going to have any shot at the playoffs, they cannot lose these kinds of games. Every beatable opponent will have to be beaten for the Mavs to make it to the postseason and that has not been happening so far this season.

The Mavericks will look to bounce back against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, January 7th. The game will be in Dallas and will begin at 7:30 CT.