Suns Top Mavericks Despite Luka Doncic's 45 Points
Despite a scintillating performance by Luka Doncic, the Phoenix Suns led wire to wire to capture their sixth straight game one win, beating the Dallas Mavericks, 121-114. Luka Doncic scored 45 points on 15-30 field goal shooting, ripped down a game-high 12 rebounds, and tied Devin Booker with a game-high eight assists in 44 minutes, but that was not enough to prevent Phoenix from building a 21 point lead before cruising to victory. Doncic now has more 40 point playoff games than any player younger than 24 in NBA history (six, breaking the mark of five set by Rick Barry). Doncic is not as athletic or explosive as LeBron James, but his big impact on multiple box score columns is reminiscent of how the young James had a multi-faceted box score impact at the beginning of his playoff career.
The Suns' countered Doncic's singular excellence with a balanced attack. Deandre Ayton scored 25 points on 12-20 field goal shooting, and he grabbed eight rebounds. Booker had a nice all-around game (23 points, nine rebounds, eight assists) despite not shooting very well from the field (7-20) in his second game back after missing three first round games due to a hamstring injury. Chris Paul finally missed a shot after pitching a perfect game to close out the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, but he did not miss many shots: he scored 19 points on 7-13 field goal shooting, and he also had five rebounds and three assists. Paul's +14 plus/minus number led both teams.
The Mavericks had their way with the Utah Jazz in the first round, but other than Doncic versus anyone they have no matchup advantages versus the Suns. The Suns run a very efficient offense that probably can only be slowed down by a team that is big enough to control the paint but athletic enough to keep up with Booker, Paul, and the other Phoenix perimeter players.
Labels: Chris Paul, Dallas Mavericks, Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, Luka Doncic, Phoenix Suns
posted by David Friedman @ 1:42 AM
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