The Suns survive another close win and continue to come up late against the Mavs

Some teams have to go through an entire NBA season to figure out how to win games at the end. Some teams, like the Phoenix Suns last year, never find out.

This repeat has already happened a few weeks before Thanksgiving, as Friday’s 114-113 victory over the Dallas Mavericks marked Phoenix’s latest decisive win.

The Suns are now 7-0 in games considered “clutch time,” when the lead is within five points and the game time is less than five minutes. They improve to 8-1 overall this season and have won seven straight.

While Kevin Durant led them in most of those instances, starting this window with a pair of threes, this was more of the sloppy and disjointed version of winning time that often occurs.

He and Kyrie Irving of Dallas hosted a syringe clinic that was supposed to be an art exhibit before things got weird.

The cinema that unfolded became part of the chaotic flow mentioned above, and the decisive stretch came when Jusuf Nurkic picked off Irving on a draw play on the ball screen defense, giving the Suns the ball with 36 seconds left. Durant got an open 3 out of bounds on the sideline but missed. However, Bradley Beal got up on the offensive glass and got part of the ball, so it ended up in the hands of Nurkic and scored a free dunk with 31.4 seconds left, putting the score at two.

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic created a free lob on their possession, tying it up and seemingly giving the Suns their final possession of the game. Meanwhile, Royce O’Neale looked for Durant to get to a floater he made earlier in the night but forcefully converted it, only for Nurkic to grab another big offensive rebound with 0.8 seconds left and made a shooting foul.

Nurkic made one of two goals, and after a Dallas timeout to advance the ball, Doncic’s touch shot from more than 30 feet fell just short.

While Durant finished with 26 points on 8 of 14 shooting, six Suns players recorded at least 13 points, including 18 off the bench for O’Neale and a season-high 17 for Tyus Jones. Devin Booker and Beal combined to shoot 2 of 15 from 3 and were 11 of 30 for the entire game.

That was a surprise, and we’ve been repeating it for nine games now this Suns season. The game’s big push came in the first quarter when they shot 8 of 13 from 3 minutes to lead by 10. From then on, Phoenix was mostly close fine and did enough defensively to stay in the game before making a direct hit at the crucial time.

The start of the game was one of those nights against Dallas where the duo of Doncic and Irving created nothing but individual offense, most of which did not involve any outside attacking. When the two did it, it wasn’t to initiate ball movement, and that really simplifies what a defense needs to do against them. The Mavericks can easily fall into this trap, especially when Doncic is dealing with an ailment like his recent groin injury.

That was the story in the first half before Doncic and Irving led a 15-2 run after halftime to tie the game at 65. Both found a rhythm, so after that it was all about Phoenix’s initial 1-on-1 defense and rotations. Aside from Klay Thompson, Dallas has shooters who can help the Suns quite well, especially given Spencer Dinwiddie, Quentin Grimes and Naji Marshall’s poor starts from deep to the season. Marshall’s driving game made the difference as he scored nine of his 18 points in the third quarter.

Phoenix was 3 of 17 from 3 in the middle quarter, a stretch that saw a significant drop in the quality of those looks. Additionally, the Suns were unable to produce enough offensively, yielding 51 points during the period, again making for a close game.

Doncic and Irving each scored a basket in the first two minutes of the final frame, indicating things would be tough for the Suns if the shooting woes continued. They missed their first two attempts, making it appear that either Durant or Booker were eager to salvage the result.

While Durant took a break in the first half of the fourth quarter, a crucial two-possession change occurred when Beal (who was struggling) was unable to score on Mavericks center Dwight Powell, and Jones ( who was great in this game) an opening fended off 3 and lane. Dallas scored on Jones’ possession to take a six-point lead with 7:39 left, Durant checked in again.

Beal then drilled a crucial 3, Phoenix’s second 3-pointer of the second half, cutting the score to three. Marshall hit a three-pointer for Dallas before a Jones floater made the game a single point. It was a necessary reaction not to let Dallas take complete control before the crucial phase began, during which Phoenix had been and continued to be in a bind.

Beal made two more field goals, and then it was official, and Durant hit two 3s on cue to score seven straight Irving points, making it just one point with 3:17 left before it was all something went crazy.

Doncic (30 points) and Irving (29) combined for 59 points.

Nurkic contributed 15 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a turnover, his third very good game in a row.

Booker was placed on the injury report late Friday afternoon with an illness that had him listed as questionable. I can’t recall ever seeing an illness on the list in the decade I’ve been covering Booker, and a quick search of previous injury reports turned up no results. He has survived some bad colds and the like over the years. The fact that this is brought up and calls his status into question at one point should indicate how troubled he was.

He added 12 assists (no turnovers) and six rebounds to his poor shooting night, while Beal’s 6 of 17 appearances for 15 points was his worst performance in a season in which he was great to start the year.

Dallas’ depth was seriously tested here. Starting centers Dereck Lively II (right shoulder sprain) and PJ Washington (right knee sprain) both recently suffered injuries, while Maxi Kleber (right hamstring sprain) has only played two games this season and Dante Exum (right wrist surgery). ) hasn’t made his debut yet. That led to the Mavericks going all the way to the end of their bench, which included Powell, who moved up from his starting five to his fourth-string five, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper, the former 2023 first-round pick.

Prosper did not play in the second half and Dallas only recorded two reserve players with more than ten minutes: Dinwiddie (28) and Powell (25). Doncic (42) and Irving (41) were over 40.

Ryan Dunn did not play after spraining his left ankle. Suns sideline reporter Amanda Pflugrad reported on the telecast that Dunn hopes to play in Sunday’s home game against the Sacramento Kings and that Dunn moved well in shootaround. Josh Okogie occupied the ninth man spot in the rotation. Phoenix has matched that exact amount again after backup point guard Monte Morris logged back-to-back DNPs in the last two games.

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