#Mavericks #outshine #Suns
After six high-quality first games, the Suns and Mavericks meet in Phoenix for this seventh and final round. A Game 7 that closes this series, epic so far. As the Warriors wait to find their opponent, it’s a win-or-go-home situation for both teams in Arizona.
During an entirely lunar first half, the Suns simply delivered their worst basketball of the season. Like a tense and totally out of place Chris Paul – Devin Booker duo (3 points, 0/11 in accumulated shots…), Monty Williams’ men tangle their brushes, find no solution and only score… 27 points at the break! Everything at 10/41 in shots and with 7 lost bullets (for 8 assists). The best team of the regular season is simply unrecognizable in this first half of Game 7.
By contrast, the Mavericks are on cloud nine. Under the impetus of a monumental Luka Doncic (27 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists), who disintegrates the opposing defense with a smile, the Mavs air-condition the Footprint Center. The Slovenian is especially well supported by his bench. Especially Spencer Dinwiddie, who scored 21 points in just 15 minutes.
At the break, at the end of a surreal first half, during which Phoenix was humiliated in front of his own crowd, Dallas sailed far in the lead and offered an already almost fatal hole to the locals: +30 (57-27) !!!
In the second half, obviously, there is no miracle. On the contrary, things get worse for the Suns, who add 35 points in the third quarter. The difference reached +42 in the 36th minute (92-50) and the spectators began to leave the room at the beginning of an inconsequential last act, during which Monty Williams’ players closed the gap, for the honor. The final result remains definitive (123-90) and the Mavericks, at the end of this one-sided Game 7, are classified in the field of the finalist in the title.
After two consecutive eliminations in the first round, in 2020 and 2021, Luka Doncic and Dallas cross a great collective milestone and join the final place for this 2021/22 season. On the date now: the Warriors, in the conference final.
WHAT TO REMEMBER
— The terrible crush of Chris Paul and Devin Booker. The two Suns leaders failed their game on the big wings. Suffocated by the good defense of the Mavericks? Overwhelmed by pressure and challenge? Just on a (very) bad night? Hot, explanations are difficult to give, because its cracking leaves us speechless. For his first career Game 7, Booker finished with 11 points on 3/14 shooting. As for Paul (10 points, 4/8 shooting), this is the fifth time in his career that he has lost a series, when his team was leading 2-0. And it’s a (sad) NBA record…
— The outside shooter, the Mavericks’ weapon of mass destruction. Jason Kidd’s men posted an incredible 19/39 from behind the arc, which disintegrated the defensive patterns of the Suns and Monty Williams. When the Mavs are so adept at 3-point shooting, they have virtually no equivalent in the league on offense. In the conference final, against the Warriors who are also well armed in this exercise, it should make sparks…
TOPS / FLIP FLOPS
✅ Luka Doncić. The Slovenian spent “only” 30 minutes on the court, but he was not idle: 35 points (on 12/19 shooting), including 27 in the first half alone, with 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 interceptions! In a cloud throughout the first half, he nearly doubled the game at halftime. In this intense series, marked in particular by his run-ins with Devin Booker, he finally got the last word, with form. For the Mavs prodigy, this game is already a “classic” of his playoff run. The kind of performance that will be remembered for a long time…
✅ spencer dinwiddie. A perfect game for the Texan off the bench, as he scored 30 points on 11/15 shooting (including 5/7 3-point shooting). Like Luka Doncic, he did most of the damage from him in the first half, including a very big heat stroke in the second quarter. Keep in mind that he and Doncic are the first teammates since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, in 2002, to plant more than 30 points in a Game 7.
⛔️ The suns. Despite the advantage of the field, Monty Williams’s men sank and see their great season end in the most brutal way. Surprised from the start by the Mavericks’ aggressiveness and skill, they couldn’t respond and quickly lost their way. Like their leaders, distraught on offense, Phoenix couldn’t do it: 33/87 shooting, including 12/34 from 3 points. Finalist in the NBA in 2021, the Arizona franchise takes the door in the second round in 2022, after a clearly less convincing playoff campaign than a year ago.
THE CONTINUATION
The holidays for phoenix, the final of the conference for Dallas (starting Wednesday night, against Golden State).