The Suns and Mavs faced off on Monday night in a rare game for either team featuring most of their full rosters. Both teams have dealt with injuries and players in COVID-19 protocols this season, but had just about their complete rotations (Dario Saric was out for Phoenix) and put on quite the show, trading the lead in a highly entertaining fourth quarter that was punctuated by a Devin Booker game-winner.
The Booker winner came with 1.5 seconds to play and the Suns down 108-106 on a gorgeous ATO from Monty Williams, who got Booker working off some misdirection on the weakside and then coming back to the ball on a screen from Deandre Ayton to free him up to catch and shoot off the Chris Paul feed.
Devin Booker caps his 15-point 4th quarter by hitting the GAME-WINNING THREE with 1.5 remaining! #WeAreTheValley pic.twitter.com/uzwsvrETPU
— NBA (@NBA) February 2, 2021
The Mavs were unable to answer on their final possession, as the Suns got a 109-108 win to move to 11-8 on the season, while Dallas slipped to 8-13. Booker had 24 points in his first game back after missing four games with a hamstring issue, and while it took some time for him to shake off the rust, he did so just in time for a 15-point fourth quarter.
In the early going, it was Chris Paul who carried the load for Phoenix, with 34 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds in his best individual performance on his new squad.
CP steal, CP 3!
He's up to 3⃣2⃣ points on 13-16 shooting.. we're tied midway through the 4th quarter on NBA TV. pic.twitter.com/QtdBaXgru1
— NBA (@NBA) February 2, 2021
On the other side, Luka Doncic had 25 points, eight assists, and five boards, while Josh Richardson added 24 points, five rebounds, and four assists, but they just couldn’t find enough stops or enough buckets in the fourth quarter as Phoenix erased a five-point deficit entering the final period to get the win. It’s another frustrating loss for Dallas, but they’ll be looking at least a bit on the bright side, which is that they finally can try to start really building from here now that they’re back to full strength.
The Suns, meanwhile, still haven’t gotten the absolute best out of their core trio but are finding their way to wins and working out how to get Booker, Paul, and Ayton all going at once, which could be very scary if they can figure that combination out.
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/devin-booker-suns-mavs-game-winner-video/