Dallas Mavericks take on other big surprise team in the West

The Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns prepare to play each other the day after Thanksgiving in a matchup of the two big surprise teams of the Western Conference thus far.

The NBA has been interesting so far this season with a handful of teams that have definitely outperformed their expectations. The Dallas Mavericks are one of those teams according to a lot of the mainstream culture, but the Phoenix Suns being in the eighth spot in the West at this point is pretty surprising.

If you ask the Suns players, this is no surprise at all and I think that they have a good point. This team is not lacking in NBA talent with an upcoming All-Star in Devin Booker and great support players like Ricky Rubio, Kelly Oubre and Dario Saric. When they get Deandre Ayton back, they could have a legitimate shot to steal a playoff spot from someone like the San Antonio Spurs.

The Mavs are coming off their worst loss of the season to the LA Clippers, but are still in the top five in the West and are only a few games back from the top three. This is especially important as we draw closer to a much tougher stretch of schedule for Dallas, who has had a relatively easy ride thus far.

We have been able to see just how good this Mavs team can be over the past couple weeks, and if they are playing the way they are capable of playing, I don’t think there are that many teams that can beat them. The Clippers do happen to be one of those teams as I believe they are the favorite to win the title this year.

The Suns are starting to fade a little bit recently and now sit below .500 for the first time this season. They will want a win badly to prove that they can weather some of these storms. However, the Mavs want a convincing win after the beating they took on Tuesday. This could end up being a very entertaining game.

The matchup to watch is undoubtedly Devin Booker vs. Luka Doncic. Although they won’t be guarding each other, these are two of the most prolific scorers in the NBA and the game could quickly turn into a shootout if both of them are feeling it. It will also be interesting to see how the Suns try to contain Kristaps Porzingis.

The Mavs and Suns will tip-off around 8:00pm central time in Phoenix. Starting lineups have not been announced yet, but will be announced at least a half hour before the game begins. The Suns will be without Deandre Ayton and Aron Baynes while the Mavs have both Kristaps Porzingis and Dorian Finney-Smith currently listed as day-to-day.