The Phoenix Suns (43-36) hosted the Dallas Mavericks (25-54) at Mortgage Matchup Center on Wednesday.
This was the final regular season home game as the playoffs are just around the corner.
The Suns were coming off a loss to the Houston Rockets, while the Mavericks were coming off a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Mavericks had lost nine out of their last 11 games, while the Suns had lost three out of four games.
The Suns had secured a spot in the play-in tournament as they sat in seventh in the Western Conference, while the Dallas Mavericks had been eliminated, sitting 13th in the West.
The Mavericks had Brandon Williams (illness), P.J. Washington (elbow), Daniel Gafford (shoulder), and Naji Marshall (undisclosed) all on Game-Time Decision.
Washington led the team in rebounds with 7 rebounds per game.
As for the Suns, other than Haywood Highsmith (knee), the team was fully healthy.
The Suns had clinched at least the eighth seed in the West and were looking to clinch the seventh seed tonight with a win and a loss from the Los Angeles Clippers.
This would give the team home-court advantage for the play-in tournament in the West.
That would not guarantee a spot in the playoffs for the Suns however, as they would have to win one out of two games to officially clinch a playoff spot due to their higher seed.
Even then, there were still three games left in the regular season, and finishing on a high note would give the team optimism and momentum.
“We’re focused on tonight,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said. “We got a big game tonight. Second night of a back-to-back, we got to find a way to maximize our reps. Right now, we’ll focus on tonight and we got to play well tonight.”
Dallas had rookie Cooper Flagg, who was in the race for Rookie of the Year, as he led the team in points, averaging 21.2 points per game.
“Just growth,” Ott said regarding Flagg. “Anytime a young guy plays early in his career, there’s going to be peaks and valleys. Now you see him take gigantic strides, still in his first year. He plays bigger than his age, and now he can add the shooting piece and the passing piece.”
As for the Suns, they still had Dillon Brooks and star player Devin Booker, who were both averaging 20+ PPG.
Booker led the team in points and assists, with 25.9 PPG and 6 assists per game.
“I think he’s just been doing a lot of good things,” Ott said regarding Booker. “Getting to the free-throw line, every game’s different. He’ll make the right play.”
The Suns also had some solid pieces to rely on, such as Jalen Green, Collin Gillespie, and Grayson Allen.
“We’ve had enough data with that second unit,” Ott said regarding the second unit. “Keep looking at it, keep talking through it. It’s probably not going to be perfect, but we got to get it right on Tuesday. I think we saw some stuff that we liked and some stuss that we’re going to definitely question.”
As for the paint, Mark Williams was the man for the Suns in that department, leading the Suns in rebounds with 8 RPG.
Before the game, however, Williams and Allen were ruled out of the game. Williams was out due to injury management, while Allen was out with a quad injury.
As for the Mavericks, Williams, Washington, Gafford and Marshall were all ruled out of the game.
Jordan Goodwin and Khaman Maluach replaced the two players for the Suns.
Four minutes into the game, and Green was subbed off for Gillespie after suffering what looked to be a leg injury, before heading down the tunnel.
“It’s tough,” Booker said seeing his teammates go down. “Coach says nobody is going to feel bad for us, so we have to get over that quick. That’s the nature of the game; we’re not the only team dealing with it.”
Entering the second quarter, the Suns led 33-29.
Royce O’Neale led the way in scoring with 11 points, while Booker trailed him with seven points while already having four assists.
As for the Mavericks, Bagley had eight points, while Flagg followed with six points.
It helped that the Suns went 6-for-10 from downtown to start the game.
With less than three minutes left in the second quarter, Goodwin walked off to the locker room as well after a timeout.
Goodwin finished his night with nine points, three rebounds, and an assist.
“They tried to come back in,” Ott said regarding Goodwin and Green. “They just couldn’t do it. We’ll continue to assess how our guys come out of this back-to-back, and then we’ll plan accordingly. The number one thing always, is health.”
Entering the second half, the Suns led 61-53.
For the Suns, Booker led the way with 19 points, but O’Neale had 14 points of his own.
Brooks also chipped in with nine points.
As for the Mavericks, Flagg was quiet with only six points, going 3-for-10 when shooting, while Bagley and Max Christie did the lifting.
Bagley had 11 points, and Christie had 10 points.
Phoenix took a big lead midway through the third, leading by as much as 18, but an 18-1 by Dallas cut the lead to just one point.
“Proud of our response,” Ott said. “At some point you think the dam is going to break, where we’re going to be able to open it up and to their credit, they kept playing fast and shots kept going in. It’s that time of year just to take care of business.”
Despite that, the Suns led 88-80 entering the fourth quarter.
Booker exploded to life for Phoenix, as he had 27 points, and so did Brooks, as he had 19 points while being perfect from deep.
Maluach also had 13 rebounds for the Suns.
As for Dallas, Christie and John Poulakidas had 15 points, while Bagley had 13 points.
However, Dallas went on a quick run, and with just eight minutes left in the game, they took a two-point lead.
With five minutes to go, Phoenix held a five-point lead.
Even then, Dallas had chances to score, but Phoenix’s defense, alongside some crucial blocks by Maluach, kept the Mavericks from taking the lead.
“He had a big block there in the fourth,” Ott said regarding Maluach. “Just the presence at the rim, obviously helps with the rebounding piece. It was good, good reps for him, good experience to get out there. This is just the next step.”
Phoenix took a 105-97 lead with three minutes left, as they looked to close out the game.
Entering the final 90 seconds of the game, Dallas cut the lead to three, but Booker responded, hitting a big time three as the Mavericks called timeout.
“I’ve been through it before,” Booker said. “That’s why when I have it rolling, you don’t see me doing backflips or celebrating, this game’s humbled me plenty. It is what it is and you move on to the next play.”
Despite that, Dallas hit their own three, and with 36 seconds left, Dallas had the ball down just three.
Moussa Cisse drove into the lane for a bucket, but Oso Ighodaro blocked him, and the Suns ran up the court with it.
After that, Brooks drove it to take a five-point lead with 13 seconds remaining.
In the end, that was the deciding factor, as the Suns won 112-107.
For Phoenix, Booker finished with 37 points while Brooks trailed him with 28 points.
“He’s a shot maker,” Ott said regarding Brooks. “This is probably the most consistent he probably felt, so that’s helpful. We obviously missed that in the month of March. It’s good to see him get back on track.”
Maluach finished with just four points but had three blocks and 14 rebounds.
“Khaman (Maluach) stayed the course the entire year,” Booker said. “Just waited for his opportunity and thrived in it tonight. I’m super proud of him. I think this is a starting point for him.”
As for the Mavericks, Poulakidas finished with 23 points and Bagley finished with 20 points.
Flagg was shut down, going 4-for-19 in the game scoring only 11 points.
“He’s so good in the open court,” Ott said regarding Flagg. “First piece with them is to get back in transition. You can never guard any elite scorer in the league one-on-one, you got to do it with all five defensive players.”
The Suns jump to 44-36 while the Mavericks fall to 25-55.
Combine tonight’s win with the Clippers losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Suns clinched the seventh seed and home-court advantage for the play-in tournament in the West.
“I live for these moments,” Booker said. “I’ve been here before; I might have the most playoff experience on the team. I’m looking forward to the play-in, this is what you train all summer for. This is the situation I imagine myself in so, not time to shy away from it.”
The Suns will visit the Los Angeles Lakers at crypto.com Arena on Friday.