Dallas Mavericks dominate 4th, take down Suns on the road

The Dallas Mavericks didn’t play great, but they played good enough to take down the pesky Phoenix Suns, who fall to 8-10 on the season. The Mavs move to 12-6, which ties them for fourth in the West.

Luka Doncic was back to his dominant ways once again as the Dallas Mavericks visited the Phoenix Suns on Black Friday. Much like the scene at some of the malls and stores on this dark day, the physicality of this game was apparent early and often as things became extremely chippy between several different players.

It started mostly with Aron Baynes who seemed to have beef with half of the Mavs players. With his tendencies to hit the floor every other play, Baynes managed to create and cause several of the fouls throughout the game. The Mavs did not back down as both Kristaps Porzingis, Luka Doncic and Delon Wright got into it with him.

Other chippy battles that took place included Dwight Powell and Ricky Rubio, Dorian Finney-Smith and Kelly Oubre Jr. and a little riff between Tim Hardaway Jr. and Devin Booker. If I were the Mavs, I would challenge the Powell technical foul in this game with the refs in New York. It should be rescinded. All-in-all, the physicality was intense and the Mavs still took it to them, especially in the third quarter.

Luka had himself a game once again, falling one rebound short of yet another 42-point triple-double. Luka did not shoot the ball incredibly well in this one, specifically from three, but he still put it to the Suns. In the first quarter, every point could be attributed to Luka from scoring or assists, other than two free throws from Wright.

Tim Hardaway has been pivotal to the Mavs recent success, proving again tonight that he absolutely needs to be in the starting lineup. He scored an impressive 26 on very efficient shooting and came up with a pair of steals.

The biggest downside to the Mavs 120-113 win was that they let Phoenix score at will in the third quarter. The Mavs had to fight back in the last few minutes of the quarter just to get the game tied up at 89. Once the starters got back in the game in the fourth, Dallas ran away with it.

Porzingis had a nice game tonight as well, despite his shooting. He didn’t make a field goal but made several key plays on defense and getting a ton of rebounds. Seth Curry also had a nice game with 11 points.

The Mavs will look to create another winning streak on Sunday as they take on the Los Angeles Lakers in LA. The Lakers are currently on a nine-game winning streak and could be up to 10 by the time the Mavs play them.