The Mavs continue to rival the Suns on national television

PHOENIX – If the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns are rivals, they definitely peaked last year in powerplay. phenomenal way.

And it was good for the Mavs.

Last year, the Suns had the best record in the entire NBA, meaning all they had to do was win all of their home playoff games and they would become NBA champions for the first time in franchise history. But something happened to the Suns on their way to the NBA throne.

Mavs happened.

In Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals, played in Phoenix, the Mavs completely wiped out the Suns with a 123–90 win. And it wasn’t even close. (After the third quarter it was 92-50 Mavs).

It was a 57-27 lead for the Mavs in the half. And in the halftime, Mavs point guard Luka Doncic scored as many points as the entire Suns team — 27 — to help Dallas reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time since he won the 2011 NBA title.

All of that drama came to a head this season when an NBA scheduler put the Mavs on the regular season opener in Phoenix. The Suns rallied after trailing 22 points in the third quarter and won the October 19 contest 107–105 on jumper Damion Lee with 9.7 seconds left in the game.

With this embarrassing loss in mind, the Mavs retaliated on December 5 by routing the Suns 130–111 at the American Airlines Center, ending a 10 regular season losing streak against the Phoenix. While Doncic had 33 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two blocks in that game, Suns shooter Devin Booker scored just 11 points.

It was a season low for Booker, except for two points he scored at Christmas against Denver, when he lasted just 4:20 coming back from a groin injury.

Meanwhile, in what the NBA has called rivalry week, the Mavs and Suns will face off again Thursday at 9:00 pm CET in a nationally televised game on TNT between two teams with the same record. Let the fireworks begin.

*Mavs center Christian Wood (fractured left thumb) and forward Maxi Kleber (torn right hamstring) will miss Thursday’s game.ame.

*This is the start of a short two-game Mavs journey. After Thursday, the Mavs will play in Utah on Saturday before returning home to open a two-game home stand on Monday against Detroit.

*The Suns are on a four-game winning streak. They beat Charlotte 128–97 on Tuesday, 24 points behind Cameron Johnson, with benched reserves 66–32 ahead of Hornets reserves.

* Mavs point guard Luka Doncic scored 41 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had six assists in a 127-126 loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. It was 10^th Doncic has scored at least 40 points in a game this season and is leading the NBA.

* Suns defenseman Devin Booker leads his team with 27.1 points and 5.6 assists, but has only played 29 games this season due to injury.

*Mavs center Dwight Powell scored a season-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting on Tuesday against the Washington Wizards. Powell is just one block away from tying Rolando Blackman by 13 points.^th a place on the permanent Mavs list with 258.

*Suns Center Deandre Ayton averages 17.5 points per game and 9.9 rebounds. But on Tuesday, he missed his third straight game against Charlotte with a non-COVID-19 illness.

* Mavs forward Dorian Finney-Smith is two interceptions away from tying Steve Nash at 14.^th place on the Mavs’ all-time steal list with 351, while defenseman Tim Hardaway Jr. is just one steal away from 400 in his career.

*Maws guard Spencer Dinwiddie scored 20 points and had eight assists against the Wizards.

DALLAS MAVERICS (25-24) and PHOENIX SUNZ (25-24)

When: 21:00 Thursday

Where: Trail Center, Phoenix

TV SET: TNT

Radio: 97.1 FM Freak; 99.1 FM Zone MX (Spanish)

Twitter: @DwainPrice