The Western Conference Semifinals series between the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns is now a best of three.
Dallas successfully defended American Airlines Center in front of their home fans on Sunday in Game 4, picking up a 111-101 win over Phoenix to tie up the series at two games apiece. Coach Jason Kidd’s team continued to show a relentless effort on defense as they forced turnovers, and their ability to penetrate the paint on offense allowed for open looks from behind the three-point line.
The Mavs offense once again ran through Luka Doncic, but the Dallas star knew the key to their success was to get his teammates involved early and often. He finished the night with 26 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. The main beneficiary from Dallas’ ball movement was Dorian Finney-Smith, who finished with a career high in three-pointers made, shooting 8-of-12 from distance, which translated to a new playoff career-high with 24 points. As a whole, the team made 20 threes, but also did the little things neccesary to get a big win to even the series, as Jason noted after the game.
“We put ourselves in a position to win and we finished it,” Coach Kidd said. “But the big thing is just, these guys are playing hard. They’re playing extremely hard and it’s great to see. From picking up full court to diving on the floor for the loose ball, protecting each other. It’s really cool to watch.”
Another key contributor to Dallas’ success was their bench scoring. Four Mavs reserves combined for 36 points, which allowed Dallas to maintain a lead for most of the game. It was a complete team performance, and J-Kidd had high remarks for his bench, explaining the difference depth can make during tight playoff matchups.
“We talked about Spencer [Dinwiddie] getting to the basket making shots,” Coach Kidd said. “Maxi [Kleber] has been Maxi in this series, and then we look at Frank [Ntilikina], he makes a big three for us too. Being able not just to play defense, but being able to capitalize and then Davis [Bertans] was on fire. This time of the year it’s always someone that you don’t talk about that can give you a lift and Davis was that for us this afternoon…The bench was big. It was a great team win.”
The opening quarter foreshadowed how the game was going to play out. The Dallas offense was rolling from the start with multiple players knocking down shots from beyond the arc. Finney-Smith and Doncic led the offensive charge by each scoring nine points.
Halfway through the quarter the Mavs started to build their lead. Jalen Brunson hit a jumper, then Doncic swung a pass to DFS for a three-pointer. The quick five points put Dallas in front 24-13. Phoenix could not match the fire power of the Mavericks in the first, as Dallas shot 8-of-13 from deep to stake themselves to a 37-25 advantage after one.
The Dallas defense was at its best in the first half, and as a result the Suns had 10 turnovers in the first 24 minutes. The Mavericks turned those turnovers into transition points and Phoenix was unable to match Dallas’ success from the three-point line, as they knocked down 14 of their 20 treys in the first half.
Bertans kept the scoring going in the second as Dinwiddie found him for a 22-foot three. Following a Jae Crowder basket, Dinwiddie swung another pass to Bertans for his second three of the quarter. The Suns answered again, but this time Spencer hit a three of his own to push their lead to 17. The remainder of the second quarter had the two teams exchanging baskets and Phoenix only made a slight dent into their deficit. Finney-Smith and Doncic combined for 31 points in the first half and with everything clicking offensively the Mavs entered halftime with a 68-56 lead.
Returning from halftime, both teams struggled to find any rhythm. Dallas in particular had a slow starts as the Suns scored the first seven points of the quarter to cut the Mavs’ lead to five. But Dallas finally responded and put together a mini run of their own, which featured two Doncic assists and was capped off with a Finney-Smith three-pointer that pushed the lead back to double digits. For the quarter, scoring was at a minimum as each team made just eight shots. As a result, despite being outscored 22-19 in the third the Mavs still held on to an 87-78 lead entering the final frame.
The final frame began with Phoenix in a tough position, as star point guard Chris Paul found himself in foul trouble and entered the fourth sitting on five fouls. After a basket from Doncic and a three from Devin Booker, CP3 committed a loose ball foul and consequently was fouled out. Paul ended the night with six fouls and five points. Dallas took advantage of the absence of Paul and was able to maintain their lead throughout the fourth quarter.
Doncic led the way in the final minutes. He found Brunson for a three, hit a quick two and found Maxi Kleber for a dunk to seal the game. The Mavs shot an efficient 20-of-44 from beyond the arc and tied up the series sending it back to Phoenix for a pivotal Game 5.
Coach Kidd praised his team for stepping up and making big shots since the Suns were determined to get the ball out of Luka’s hands. Kidd continued to discuss the next challenge will be winning on the road.
“We trust one another, we felt like we needed to protect home and we did that,” Coach Kidd said. “Now we have to figure out how to win one on the road, but again we’re playing the best team in the NBA right now in the Suns. We know this is a tough challenge, but we just got to go out and execute and hopefully put ourselves in a position to win on the road.”
Tuesday night Game 5 is scheduled to tip-off for 9 p.m. CT and the game can be seen on TNT.