Suns down Mavericks, 114-102, despite Phoenix back-to-back

Dallas' energy and effort wasn't quite there as Phoenix outrebounded them 46-45. Even though it was only a narrow lead in Phoenix's favor, it appeared to be an area before the game where the Mavs had a significant advantage Dereck Lively II And Daniel Gaffordtwo strengths of the team inside. The performance felt more like Dallas was on its second night in a row than the opposite. They were sluggish on offense, shooting less than 40% from the field on the night and hitting just 31.7% of their three-point attempts.

These misses weren't just due to a lack of looks either – the Mavericks played a lot of good sets but just couldn't convert their attempts. They only hit 13 of 41 shots from distance, while Phoenix shot at a more respectable 35.9%. It just wasn't Dallas' night in several aspects of the game as they came out of the game with low energy. They weren't sharp defensively either, sending the Suns to the line 37 times on the night compared to 18 attempts from the stripe.

The disparity in fouls can be attributed to a lack of aggressive attack on offense in terms of driving the ball from Dallas, as well as a less enthusiastic defense that forced players to foul for being out of position. That doesn't work against teams like the Suns and Star Kevin Durantwho, like tonight, will pick apart lackluster defenses.

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Even though the team didn't have much success with the double-digit loss, Star Guard was Luka Doncic performed well, scoring 40 points and recording 10 rebounds on 12 of 25 from the field. He also added four assists. Kyrie Irving had an inefficient 22 points on 22 shots and struggled to convert, especially in the second half, although he added three steals to his total, which is an encouraging sign. Klay Thompson had 19 points on 5 of 12 from three.

For the Suns, the aforementioned Kevin Durant scored 31 points on 10 of 21 and grabbed nine boards. He also surpassed 29,000 career points, another milestone in a career full of milestones for the former University of Texas star. However, the surprise player of the night for Phoenix took center stage Yusuf Nurkicwho scored 18 points on an efficient 7 of 12 field goals and grabbed 14 rebounds.

While nights like this happen in the NBA, it doesn't help that it was against a team that actually had an excuse to play less intensely, like the Suns did after losing the night before. Dallas should have come out more motivated, which will certainly be practiced before the Mavericks' next game against the Jazz on Monday, October 28th.

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