Dallas drops opener against the Suns, 106-102

Dallas- With unders 30.seconds left in regulation, the Mavericks could not get a defensive stop against the Suns and dropped their first game of the season.

After a slow first half, the Mavericks picked up the pace in the second half. Luka Doncic started to catch fire and had 12 points in the third quarter. On the defensive end of the ball, the Mavericks started to put pressure on the Suns' guards with making them adjust to the two-three zone. The zone worked, because Dallas was taking the ball out of Phoenix's playmakers, which forced other players to take ill-advised shots.

In the fourth quarter, the Mavericks was using their bigs to create shots around the rim. Luka, Jalen Brunson, and Tim Hardaway Jr. all hit big shots down the stretch, to keep themselves in striking distance. Dallas took advantage of the Sun's smaller line-up and used their bigs to get easy points inside. Dallas had a total of 20 points in the paint in the quarter.

With under .30 ticks left in regulation, the Mavericks needed to stop the Suns from scoring. Max Kleber forced Devin Booker to take a tough shot and Booker missed. However, the Suns got the rebound, which forced Dallas to foul, and ended any hope of a come back.

Key Notes

Luka finished with 32 points, 5 assists, and 8 rebounds.

Dallas had five other players in double figures and shot around 42% from the field.