The first half of Wednesday night's season opener conjured up painful feelings from last spring, when the Suns were humiliated in the playoffs. The Dallas Mavericks were dominating the Suns once again.
It was much sweeter for the Suns to come back from a 22-point deficit to win at the Footprint Center.
"If you get kicked, you want to get back," Booker said in the postgame interview, acknowledging the humiliation he experienced in the Western Conference semifinals. It's just life.
There are 81 games left to be played. I mentioned that before the game. It is a positive start. It's a good start to show our team if we're down early in the game.
The Suns were the NBA's best team in clutch games last season, as they were 33-9 in them and earned the top overall seed. This was a typical performance for Phoenix.
The Suns were put up for sale in the wake of an investigation into the team's workplace culture and tense contract negotiations with center Deandre were just some of the issues that led to the team's chaotic off-season. The NBA scheduled the Mavs to return to Phoenix for the opener, a made-for-TV re-enactment of the playoffs.
Monty Williams said that winning in the NBA is cool. It doesn't help you grow if you lose to the team that knocked you out.
The Mavericks led by 15 with 8:31 left after a scoring flurry by Dallas sixth man Christian Wood. Wood scored 16 consecutive points for the Mavs in a 4-minute 35-second span that bridged the third and fourth quarters.
Doncic missed a 34 footer at the buzzer but said that they relaxed a bit. We just relaxed, we don't think the game was over. We're going to get there and we're going to win. We just cannot relax. It happens a lot. We have to be keeping leads. This is something we need to work on and we will do it.
Booker had seven of his 28 points and six of his nine assists in the fourth quarter as the Suns came back from a fifteen point deficit. The hero was an unlikely one. Damion Lee scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, when he played the entire frame, and hit the winning shot on a 10-foot fadeaway.
The game winner by Lee, who signed for the veterans minimum after serving as a reserve for the champion Golden State Warriors, came after he gave up a tying and-1 drive by Doncic. Williams gave him a pep talk after the timeout.
The coach just looked at me and told me to play. Lee is 2-of-9 on tying or going-ahead field goals in the final minute of his career, according to data from the research company. No matter what happens, the coach is always going to instill that confidence in you.
Chris Paul, one of the NBA's premier closers, sat out the final 6:41 of the Suns' fourth quarter rally.
Williams' plan was to rest Paul for a few minutes before putting him back in to finish the game. Williams didn't disrupt the rhythm the Suns established with their point guard.
Williams said that he's always open minded in those situations. I know Chris would love to win. My plan was to get him back in three minutes. I didn't want to take him out of the game because he was playing well. I didn't think it was that big of a decision, but I think it's because it's Chris.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
