NBA Game Recap - Dallas at Phoenix
Thu Aug 13, 2020 4:00 PM EDT

WAS
96
BOS
90
F
SAC
136
LAL
122
F
MIL
106
MEM
119
F
DAL
102
PHO
128
F
SA
112
UTA
118
F
NO
127
ORL
133
F
POR
134
BKN
133
F

Phoenix 128, Dallas 102

Aug 13, 2020, 4:00 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Dallas

25

32

22

23

102

Phoenix

36

40

28

24

128

Suns top Mavs to finish 8-0 in bubble, but fail to advance
Fri Aug 14, 2020 12:04 AM

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) The Phoenix Suns did all they could in the bubble. It still wasn't enough.

Devin Booker scored 27 points and Phoenix beat the Dallas Mavericks 128-102 on Thursday to finish as the only team to win all eight games seeding games. That kept the Suns alive for a few hours, but they ended up on the outside looking in when Portland beat Brooklyn by a point.

Dario Saric scored 16 points and Cameron Payne and Cameron Johnson each added 15 for the Suns.

"I'm just really grateful for the effort and the growth of this team," Suns coach Monty Williams said.

The Suns needed either Memphis or Portland to lose to get into the play-in series for the No. 8 seed in the West. Memphis won its game against Milwaukee in the same time slot as Phoenix,

"I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't looking," he said. "I'm not ashamed to tell you we've all been thinking about it. I just told them to focus on the game and here I am - I probably looked at it right after I said it to them."

Booker has been a breakout star in the bubble. The guard has averaged 30.5 points while shooting 50%t from the field. He was more concerned about team goals after the game.

"We had one objective - to get better - and we did that," Booker said. "I think we approached this with the right mindset from the beginning, from practices, from training camp in Phoenix, from the first two weeks we got down here, everybody was locked in on all cylinders."

Dallas was already locked into a playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers, so the starters played limited minutes. Luka Doncic, who had averaged 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11.3 assists in the bubble, finished with 18 points in just over 13 minutes. Boban Marjanovic, Dallas' 7-foot-4 reserve center, had 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds.

The Mavericks had hoped to perform better heading into the playoffs.

"Today was disappointing," Mavericks guard J.J. Barea said. "We didn't show up. Our goal was to make it to the playoffs. So we're here now and we've got to get ready for it."

Phoenix shot 66% in the first half to take a 76-57 lead. Booker scored 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting before the break. Their biggest lead was 28 points.

TIP-INS

Mavericks: F/C Kristaps Porzingis sat out with a left heel injury. ... Marjanovic got his fifth start of the season. ... Seth Curry had missed three of the previous five games with right leg soreness. He finished with eight points in just over 20 minutes of action.

Suns: Beat the Mavericks 117-115 in the bubble on August 2. ... Shot at least 50 percent in each of the first three quarters. ... Committed just six turnovers. ... Ricky Rubio had 12 assists. ... Mikal Bridges scored 14 points.

SUNS DNA

The Suns averaged 122 points in the eight games.

"You saw our DNA on display," Williams said. "That's who we are, from the first day of practice in training camp we've been playing that way. And we understood all along for us to win that's the way we'd have to play. I'm proud of the guys that have played that hard for us all season long."

QUOTABLE

Suns G Jevon Carter on losses earlier in the season costing the Suns a chance to control their playoff chances: "There's no point. We lost games. Whatever happened back then there's no point talking about it now. We can't change the past."

UP NEXT

Mavericks: Play the Los Angeles Clippers next week in the playoffs.

Suns: Either season over or will be in a play-in game against Memphis on Saturday. ---

More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

Leaders

Dallas PTS +/- AST REB ST BLK
L. Doncic 18 -2 0 5 1 0
B. Marjanovic 18 -10 3 20 0 0
Phoenix PTS +/- AST REB ST BLK
D. Booker 27 30 5 7 0 0
D. Saric 16 3 2 6 0 0

Team Comparison

DAL PHO
Points For 102 128
Field Goals 39/89-44% 49/89-55%
Three Pointers 8/26-31% 14/34-41%
Free Throws 16/19-84% 16/21-76%
Offensive Rebounds 11 7
Defensive Rebounds 32 38
Rebounds 47 51
Blocks 4 4
Steals 3 6
Turnovers 11 5
Points Scored Off Turnovers 4 14
Points in the Paint 56 60
Fast Break Points 5 22
Personal Fouls 18 14
Technical Fouls 1 0
Flagrant Fouls 0 0
Ejections 0 0

2019-20 Reg Season - PHO Leads Series 3-1

Date Result Away Pts Ldr Home Pts Ldr
Fri Nov 29 DAL 120 @ PHO 113 L. Doncic 42 K. Oubre Jr. 22
Tue Jan 28 PHO 133 @ DAL 104 D. Booker 32 L. Doncic 21
Sun Aug 2 DAL 115 @ PHO 117 L. Doncic 40 D. Booker 30
Thu Aug 13 DAL 102 @ PHO 128 B. Marjanovic 18 D. Booker 27

Game Information

Stadium: AdventHealth Arena, Reunion, Florida
Attendance: 0
Game Time: 2:14