PHOENIX — After the Phoenix Suns jumped out to a 30-point lead in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas mucked up the game in a very interesting way.

The Mavericks (19-34) drove into the paint any chance they could get and tried to draw fouls, slowing down the game completely with this strategy.

Although the Suns (32-22) ended up winning 120-111, the Mavericks shot 32-for-44 from the free-throw line compared to Phoenix only going 6-for-9 from the line.

Phoenix had 27 personal fouls for the game, and Dallas recorded just 12 on the night.

“We saw it the whole night. Everyone in the arena felt it,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said postgame. “Stoppage of play, and then go play against it. They’re all connected. The game of basketball, you don’t get to blow the whistle and sub units out quite like football or stop plays. It’s all connected. They get downhill, they get to the free-throw line.

“We have to play against set defense. Makes it hard to score. And they’re able to get in transition, get to the free-throw line. It was frustrating for everyone. I don’t think anyone watching that was too happy that they spent the time watching all those whistles. We’ll take a look, just like everyone else hopefully does.”

How Suns Overcame Free Throw Disparity vs Mavericks

The Suns became just the ninth team in NBA history to win despite a minus-35 free throw disparity or worse, as teams were previously 8-56 in those instances with the last win being by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2013-14 season.

The frustration boiled over for Suns forward Dillon Brooks, who picked up his 15th technical foul of the season in the third quarter, meaning the next technical he gets will automatically result in a one-game suspension.

“All I said was ‘you’re giving out fouls, you’re giving out fouls and you’re giving out fouls,'” Brooks said postgame (via The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin). “If that deserves a T, there should be way more people in there that got 10, 12 Ts in the league if that’s how soft they’re gonna be.”

“Don’t get him fined.”

Devin Booker as I ask Dillon Brooks about FT differential (Mavs 44 FTAs to Suns 9) in 120-111 win.

Brooks on 15th tech to put him one away from one-game suspension: “All I said was ‘you’re giving out fouls, you’re giving out fouls and you’re giving out… pic.twitter.com/jxijgYwris

— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 11, 2026

Dallas cut Phoenix’s lead all the way down to six in the fourth quarter, but the Suns were able to stay mentally tough and come out on top to snap their two-game losing streak.

“Next play mentality,” Suns forward Ryan Dunn said. “Like Coach Ott said, we came out strong with 60 points in the first and up by a good amount and then some lapses and stuff happened with the fouls, but I think we are able to just lock back in and just play basketball and be who we are and not worry about anything else.”

Phoenix is now 10 games above .500, but faces a very tough challenge tonight on the second leg of a back-to-back against the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder (41-13) in what will be the Suns’ final game before the All-Star break.

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