Four superstars in their primes scored 137 points between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks in a Sunday afternoon game that was shown on national TV and came down to the last few seconds.
Luka Doncic and Devin Booker were both in each other’s faces, adding to a feud that has been going on since last year’s playoffs. The other two, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, acted like exes at an awkward party and completely ignored each other. This was only a month after their breakup, which changed the NBA in a big way.
The Suns’ 130-126 win over the Mavericks was a delicious scene. It was about as good as a regular-season game can get, with drama, bad blood, and great shots.
But Chris Paul, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, was the fifth star, and his role in this game may have been the most important in showing where these two high-profile teams are going.
The Suns and Mavericks are on their way to becoming real rivals. If that didn’t work, the trades they made in the middle of the season made them two of the most interesting teams in the NBA for the foreseeable future.
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But they both have to figure out if their superstars have enough help as they try to build momentum for a run in the playoffs.
The Mavericks might as well have put a sign on the videoboard telling Paul to shoot on Sunday.
It wouldn’t be fair to call it disrespect because the game plan is complicated, but it is strange to see a player with Paul’s reputation being left alone over and over again. As Dallas switched defenders to stop the Durant-Booker wave, this happened over and over again.
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Paul is having a bad shooting season by his standards. He is shooting 42.5%, which is the second-worst mark of his career and is scoring 13.5 points per game, which is the lowest average of his career. It’s a simple matter of game theory; he’s the weakest link in this chain.
In the fourth quarter, Paul punished Dallas by making three jump shots and two 3-pointers.
But the Mavs also didn’t pay attention to Josh Okogie, who made none of his eight 3-point shots, and Torrey Craig, who made one of his four. It would have worked for the home team if Ish Wainright, who has moved up from a two-way contract 10 days ago, hadn’t made four 3-pointers when Suns coach Monty Williams was desperate.
Williams used one of his old sayings to say, “You’re not going to find greatness on the beach.” “When you’re under stress, you find the growth you need, and the more stress you’re under, the more this happens. So Chris has been in those situations, maybe not as a catch-and-shoot guy, but I think he’s ready for it and he wants it.”
In the playoffs, the Suns’ season may come down to whether or not Paul can get over a bad shooting season and “stab the disrespect.” Can a player with a minimum contract beat the other team four times in seven games? Or at least do it in the one or two games that could make or break a series.
He scored 36 points. On Sunday, Durant scored 37 points, including a jumper with 11 seconds left that won the game. On the Suns’ just-finished road trip, they played their first three games together and scored a total of 188 points. That is the most points scored by teammates in the first three games since 1961-1962 when Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 points per game and any new face who showed up made the list.
Even though Doncic scored 34 points, Phoenix wouldn’t have won if he hadn’t made a bunny at the end.
“We have the utmost faith in everyone. I tell Chris to shoot every time, I tell Ish to shoot, and I tell Josh to keep shooting,” Booker said. “We’re going to keep working on it.”
The same is true for the Mavericks. Both teams lost a lot of depth when they made big deals in the middle of the season to get rid of key supporting players, and the gaps are already showing.
With Doncic and Irving, the team is now 2-5. Irving had 30 points and seven assists. All five losses have been close until the very end. The Mavericks could easily be 5-2 or, in some simulations, even 7-0. Since the trade, Doncic and Irving have scored more than 60 points per game on average, but the close losses show what a difference the rest of the team makes.
Just like Williams, Dallas coach Jason Kidd has been looking for answers. He has tried out different ways to start the game. Sunday, he put promising young player Josh Green in the starting lineup, which some people had asked for because he is a good defensive option. Green didn’t score in 28 minutes, though, and the defense still got blown out.
Kidd’s biggest problem is putting together a lineup that can score and defend well enough. Tim Hardaway Jr. hit six 3-pointers off the bench, but Kidd has trouble finding a lineup that can do both. Before the trade, the Mavs were ranked 24th in the league in defense. Since sending their best defender, Dorian Finney-Smith, to the Nets, they have dropped to 26th.
After an offseason and another trade deadline a year from now, these teams will probably have more complete rosters. However, neither team has a lot of tradeable assets left, and Irving will be a free agent this summer.
But for now, Phoenix and Dallas are likely to play a lot of games like this one: Amazing performances from the stars, pressure on the smaller supporting casts, and very close endings.
Those games could happen against each other in the playoffs, if the basketball gods let it happen.
