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Suns overcome 40-point explosion by Luka Doncic, beat Mavericks 114-102

Oct 26, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Ryan Dunn (0) celebrates a dunk against Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) in the first half of the home opener at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

PHOENIX – Despite Luka Dončić scoring 40 points, the Phoenix Suns closed out their back-to-back with a 114-102 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.

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Kevin Durant led the Suns (2-1) with 31 points, Jusuf Nurkić recorded a double-double (18 points, 14 rebounds) and Devin Booker chipped in with 21 points in the win.

Dončić finished his monstrous game with 10 rebounds for a double-double in his second consecutive game for Dallas (1-1). Kyrie Irving notched 22 points and Klay Thompson had 19.

Dončić goes off, Suns led without Beal

Right before tip-off, the Suns ruled out Bradley Beal (Right Elbow Soreness) who was initially questionable, forcing head coach Mike Budenholzer to make a switch to the starting lineup.

Drafted only a few months ago, rookie Ryan Dunn then had the difficult task of guarding Dončić. The Virginia product did his best to defend a generational talent and he came away with 13 points.

Booed when introduced and in possession of the ball, the Suns’ fans clearly let Dončić hear how they felt about him. Not letting it faze him and being a dangerous threat throughout the night, however, the Mavericks superstar scored 13 points and mustered four rebounds in the first quarter alone.

“I feel like I call some players ‘cheat codes’ in this league, and he is one of them for sure,” Nurkić said about Dončić. “When you look at the box score, you be like it’s like 2K (video game) sometimes like KD (Durant), Book (Booker), like Joker (Nikola Jokić), like Luka. There are some players with 40/15/10, you just don’t know how they get those. He is just that good.”

Tyus Jones quickly introduced himself to the Suns faithful by swishing a pair of 3-pointers near the beginning of the home opener. Though he was held to eight points, the 28-year-old found the open man and dished out seven assists to his teammates.

Off of a back-to-back where they lost a 22-point lead vs. Los Angeles, Phoenix was not discouraged and showed a high level of urgency and effort, up 28-26 at the end of the first quarter. Despite being down by two, Dallas shot was a woeful 2-for-11 (18.2%) from three in the frame.

The Mavericks were furious with some of the foul calls that they were given. Assistant coach Alex Jensen eventually received a technical foul for yelling at an official from the sidelines.

Bouncing back after a rough performance the night before, Nurkić racked up 10 points in the first half along with four rebounds. The Bosnian struggled against the Lakers, shooting 1-for-5 from the field and was a minus 19 on the floor.

“He was great. His physicality in the paint, his rebounding, defense, everything. He’s a great teammate, he is a competitor. I think he wanted to come back tonight, and have that kind of positive impact for us and he did it in a big way,” Budenholzer said about Nurkić vs. the Mavericks.

While Dončić was having his way shooting practically from anywhere, the Suns mitigated the Mavericks to 11 free throws from nine fouls, leading 63-55 at halftime. The Suns fouled 26 times which attributed to 37 free throw attempts for Los Angeles on Friday.

Durant made history, Suns hold off Mavericks

Just minutes into the second half, Nurkić went for a layup before taking a hard swing to the face by Daniel Gafford and fell onto the court in pain. Gafford would receive a flagrant foul following an official review.

Dallas went on a 10-2 run to be within one, but Phoenix answered right back with a 14-4 run of its own and regained a 12-point lead, 83-71.

Missing the entire 2023-24 season with a double posterior root repair on his right meniscus, Damion Lee remarkably returned to Footprint Center after the tragic injury and serious surgery. Lee had two points and three rebounds in 18 minutes.

Setting off a loud roar right before the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter, Royce O’Neale scored on one end and chased down the other to block a layup by Jaden Hardy. As the most-utilized player off the bench in the game, O’Neale eclipsed seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and that massive block.

“That play was just game-changing. That play coaches around the country and world can show that type of effort to their team. To get a fastbreak layup – a tough one over two people – and to haul his a** back to contest at the rim against an athletic young dude like Jaden Hardy and get a block, that ignited our crowd and ignited our team,” Durant said.

Suiting up for his first appearance in Phoenix as a Maverick, Thompson was inconsistent at spurts, shooting 7-for-16 (43.8%) in total and going 5-for-12 (41.7%) from three. A free agent in the offseason, Thompson chose to sign a three-year contract in Dallas, ending a historic 11-year tenure with the Golden State Warriors.

Needing 21 points to reach 29,000 career points, Durant accomplished the milestone and became the eighth player in NBA history to do so. He trails NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) for seventh all-time in league scoring.

“I have hit a couple of milestones since I’ve been here. I gotta give credit to the people that helped me since I was a kid who taught me the game. Teammates who pass me the ball and set screens for me, coaches who drew up plays for me. I think when I do stuff like that, I tend to think about them a lot,” Durant said. “I am just grateful that I have such great people in my life to help push me and lift me up when I needed them to and encourage me.”

Both teams went back and forth in the fourth quarter, but the Suns were able to prevail.

The Suns were 36-for-80 (45.0%) overall from the field and outrebounded the Mavericks by a slim margin, 47-46. A relatively clean game in terms of possession, Dallas finished with nine turnovers while the Suns had 11 giveaways.

Next Games

Suns: Home vs. Los Angeles Lakers (2-0) | Oct. 28 | 7 p.m. PT

Mavericks: Home vs. Utah Jazz (0-2) | Oct. 28 | 5:30 p.m. PT

Mike Budenholzer keeping confidence in Suns center after Lakers loss: ‘He’ll have his nights’

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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini

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