The Dallas Mavericks (32-32) wrap up their two-game homestand Sunday with a matinee 2:30pm CST tip against the Phoenix Suns (29-34).
Dallas enters this contest on a four-game slide after falling 122-111 Friday to the Memphis Grizzlies, outlasted in a back-and-forth affair which featured a genuinely admirable effort from head coach Jason Kidd’s third-quarter-of-a-preseason-game rotation of healthy players. The DOGE-ification of the Mavericks, in which many years of hard work by talented individuals like longtime athletic trainer Casey Smith and five-time First Team All-NBA guard Luka Dončić are systematically devalued by rich and powerful dipshits until only ashes remain, has set the team on an express elevator downward from championship finalist to the mediocrity treadmill, but Dallas maintains a 2.5-game advantage over the Suns in the standings as the two clubs scrap over 10th place and a claim to the Western Conference’s final participation trophy, the bottom seed in the play-in tournament.
Sunday’s game will be the second of a four-game road swing for the Suns, who lost 149-141 Friday to Denver after erasing a 21-point deficit to force overtime, a game after roaring back from down 23 late in the third quarter to respond to booing home fans and beat the Clippers Tuesday, 119-117.
A loss to the team looking to leapfrog them would put the Mavericks a step closer to the draft lottery, where a selection from the deep class expected in 2025 could help begin the rebuild they need, provided that Mavericks general manager and recently activated Lakers sleeper cell agent Nico Harrison can be prevented from packaging that pick and an additional future first-rounder to acquire James Worthy.
Not built to box out
Phoenix can put it in the bucket; they share the ball well, and their .378 three-point percentage ranks fourth in the league. The six Suns regulars who make at least two threes per game exceed league-average shooting from deep, ranging from Devin Booker’s .346 percentage to Grayson Allen’s .428, which marks just one facet of their jump-shooting depth. The proficiency of Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal from midrange makes the Suns a challenge for modern NBA defenses, but also affords them few second chances on misses, as the team only collects nine offensive boards per game. Center Nick Richards, brought over from Charlotte Jan. 15 to spell Mason Plumlee and displace Jusuf Nurkić, leads the Suns in overall rebounding with a per-game average of 9.6. Besides Richards the Suns don’t have a lot of bulk, but they can throw out some tall lineups when 7’3” wing Bol Bol joins Durant and the centers.
Room for daylight
While the Suns can score the ball with the best of them, their defense has often placed a low ceiling on the team, as when the 148 points they scored Feb. 25 against the Grizzlies were not enough to bring home the dub. When they send a second defender to help Tyus Jones apply pressure at the point of attack or aggressively ice high screens, it frequently leaves the other three defenders out of position and slow to rotate when teams make the extra pass. Opposing backcourts have capitalized in various ways, whether by four Memphis starters scoring at least 19 points, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards slashing and shooting his way to 44 points March 2 while Donte DiVincenzo made 8 of 13 threes, the Clippers’ James Harden passing out of trouble to tally 15 assists while helping Ivica Zubac to 35 points on some very easy looks Tuesday, or the Nuggets’ 13-of-19 first-half three-point bender Friday.
Despite everything, the Mavericks still have players who can make them pay, if Klay Thompson can maintain his 40% pace from deep, or any of Brandon Williams, Kessler Edwards, or Max Christie can replicate their success Friday, when they combined to make nine of their 17 long-range attempts.
Where to-rant, Durant?
Durant has been excellent while averaging 27 points on 50-40-80 splits at age 36, but Sunday’s game could be the last time he faces the Mavericks as a Phoenix Sun. Last week the Suns announced that they will work with Durant and his representation to find a mutually beneficial trade scenario for him this offseason, a quiet admission that their partnership of just over two seasons has not yielded the results either party had hoped for. Prior to Kyrie Irving’s ACL injury that will sideline him for the rest of this season and much of the next, Dallas had been mentioned as a possible destination, but Durant, whose openness to a trade from Phoenix indicates some fatigue with the prospect of spending the precious remaining years of his career toiling for franchises that are probably gonna suck complete shit for a while, would be wise to seek a deal to a more hopeful playoff or title contender. For his part, Suns executive James Jones can drive up his team’s asking price for the future Hall of Famer by picking up his telephone and bargaining with more than one potential partner, a savvy negotiating technique used by most, but by no means all, of the NBA’s 30 general managers.
If you squint, it’s almost possible to imagine a world in which the Suns’ decisions to ship out younger playoff-tested players and valuable draft capital in exchange for the sugar rush of aging superstars like Durant and Beal could have served as a cautionary tale for the bumbling goofballs who run our team. But that would require a Mavericks brass that was capable of learning, or whose hold on power was in any way tethered to performance or results. Patrick Dumont, the Mavericks’ Baby Huey governor whose immense wealth from marrying into a financial predator family that sells a dangerous and addictive product has purchased neither a convincing hairpiece nor a single shred of hoops acumen, will stay rich and in charge whether the Mavericks win or lose.
How to watch/listen
WFAA Channel 8, KFAA Channel 29, MAVS TV (streaming), 97.1 FM KEGL (English), 99.1 FM KFZO (Español). Remember to set your clocks forward the night before!