Kevin Durant, Suns praise Chimezie Metu's career night in Christmas loss to Mavericks

Luka Doncic was the Grinch who stole Christmas from Suns fans in front of millions who watched on ESPN. The Dallas Mavericks star had a sinister grin as he ransacked Phoenix's defense for a season-best 50 points and game-high 15 assists in the NBA's final of five Christmas Day games.

However, Phoenix's Chimezie Metu came off the bench and left a useful stocking stuffer with his performance in Phoenix's 14-point loss to the Mavericks.

Metu had career-highs 23 points (9-of-18 shooting, 2-of-6 from 3) and 19 rebounds in his season-high 34 minutes, including a double-double of 13 and 10 by halftime.

“Keep building on it. Obviously it’s a privilege to go out there and play on Christmas, first time doing so and just to keep it going the next couple of games, kind of have it be a snowball effect for the rest of the season," Metu said.

Alongside Grayson Allen's season-high 32 points, including his single-game, career-best eight made 3s, Metu dominated the glass to step up with Phoenix starting center Jusuf Nurkic missing a second consecutive game for personal reasons.

Allen scored 19 and Metu grabbed six rebounds, including three offensive rebounds, and had six points during the third period.

Allen and Metu helped the Suns take their first lead late in the third, and pushed to a five-point advantage after the Mavericks held a double-digit lead for most of the first half.

"He played incredible. Rebounding the ball was huge. He got a lot of extra possessions for us," Allen said. "My first made 3 was wide open because of an offensive rebound he got. He was really dynamic in the roller spot.

"He obviously scored the ball really well, he made some great passes out of the half-roll when they were trapping Book and Kev (Devin Booker and Kevin Durant) up top. He was a really good decision maker and he’s a good lob threat in the low, in the dunker, a good finisher down there, and knocking down 3s. He was really all over the court."

Drew Eubanks (two points, seven rebounds in 17 minutes) replaced Nurkic in the starting lineup, but Eubanks wasn't as effective on both ends of the floor as Metu. That was apparent in the holes in the Suns' backside defense. Their backcourt and wing players tried to double-team and blitz Doncic, but he still had his way despite their attempts to crowd him.

Several of Doncic's assists were to rookie big Dereck Lively II, who slammed in eight of 20 total points (8-of-9 FG, 10 rebounds) during the first quarter.

“It was just kind of the flow of the game. That was the game plan to get the ball out of his hands, but obviously he’s a great playmaker," Metu said about Doncic. "We gave him a couple easy looks as far as the assists early and he just got a flow from there. It’s on us to be more aggressive when we have a game plan like that and just go out there and execute.”

Suns coach Frank Vogel didn't use his other backup rim protector Udoka Azubuike (four points in four minutes) like he did in an 11-point, 11-rebound effort in Phoenix's loss at Sacramento on Friday. Metu had the hot hand and his rebounding was stellar, so Vogel stayed with the more mobile and versatile 6-foot-10 Metu in the small-ball lineup through the end of the game.

Metu is averaging 8.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 0.9 steals in 17 minutes this month, all highs in his first season with Phoenix.

“He’s playing his a-- off, honestly," Vogel said about Metu. "He’s just making plays in the pocket, finishing plays at the rim, extra passes. He was one of the drivers in the good ball movement we were getting, so we decided to go with him and he had a career night.”

Durant, the league's fifth-best scorer (30.3 points per game), didn't shoot well against Dallas. He had his season-low 16 points on 4-of-11 FG. Booker went 6-of-14 for 20 and had a team-high 10 assists.

Durant and Booker had just two and three points, respectively, during the Suns' third-quarter run, and Durant credited the attention he drew from defenders opened up the floor for Allen and Metu.

"That’s just the game. Grayson got hot, got it going. Metu got it going, Book got it going, so I think I did a solid job providing them space," Durant said about being an offensive decoy.

"A lot of the times I felt like my man didn’t leave when he’s supposed to have a rotation and they (Allen, Metu) would get some open shots on the backside. So I know people look at me as just a scorer, and if I don’t get up shots then I’m not effective, but it’s the little subtle stuff in the game that I believe that I help my teammates with."

Phoenix collapsed in the fourth quarter again, like most games. Metu believes the third-quarter surge against the Mavericks is a model for how they should play to help build the team's identity, which is lacking right now.

“We were getting stops and then getting out there running. Guys were getting to the corners, we were getting open looks from 3, getting in the paint, spreading it out, and the basketball was just moving. I think that kind of has to be our M.O. moving forward," Metu said.

"Obviously, teams put a lot of pressure on KD and Book, and it’s just our job to go out there and kind of fill the rest of the roles as far as just making shots and making the right plays. But I think it all starts with them trusting us and making the right play to start the domino effect.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kevin Durant, Suns praise Metu's career night in loss to Mavericks