What we learned: Booker cooks, Doncic gets heated, Suns stay composed in blitzing Mavericks

DALLAS – The Phoenix Suns withstood the early surge of offense and physicality from the Dallas Mavericks and responded with their seventh straight victory, 132-109, Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 20,202 at American Airlines Center.

Devin Booker was cooler than being cool with the hottest hand in scoring a game-high 46 points as the Suns (26-18) began their seven-game road trip with another impressive win.

Down as many as 17 in the first half, Phoenix walloped Dallas, 43-20, in going up by as many as 28 points, 100-72, with 38.7 seconds left in the third quarter. The Suns shot 18-of-22 from the field in the quarter, going 5-of-8 from 3, which means they only missed one shot from inside the 3-point line at 13-of-14.

Phoenix’s biggest lead was 29 late in the fourth.

Luka Doncic paced the Mavericks with 34 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and five turnovers – and took offense to a fan who was wearing a Devin Booker jersey saying he was fatigued and needed to get on the treadmill.

Doncic stopped, stared at the guy, initially pointed him out during play and then did it again during a timeout. An arena staff member talked to the fan, who later left his seat on his own.

This put extra spicy on a game that had six technical fouls and two non-unsportsmanlike technical fouls. Mavs forward Grant Williams wound up with two that led to an ejection in the second half.

Here’s what we learned as Phoenix shot a blistering 74.4% from the field in the second half, going 9-of-17 from 3. The Suns went into halftime on the strength of a 22-7 run to pull within one at the break.

Easy 46 for Booker

The Suns had five players score in double figures with Bradley Beal delivering 20, Grayson Allen going for 15, Kevin Durant adding 12 and Keita Bates-Diop chipping in 11 off the bench.

Now let’s talk about Booker. That looked like an easy 46 for him.

In the flow. Playing at his pace. Not rushing. Just putting in work.

He shot 17-of-23 from the field, going 6-of-10 from 3, adding seven rebounds and three assists with zero turnovers in 35 minutes.

Zero.

He’s had some incredible games, but this was one of his best because he took on the challenge of facing a team and a player in Doncic that’s given him sleepless nights, i.e., Game 7 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals in Phoenix, and took it to the Mavs in their house.

And did it with ease. Absolute ease.

Staying more composed

Durant found himself on the floor when Williams was in the early stages of walking over him.

Jusuf Nurkic wasn’t having it.

The Suns 7-footer shoved Williams out the way, Williams responded and Durant hopped up and had to be separated from the situation early in the first half.

Durant was pointing and screaming at Williams. All three received technical fouls from that sequence that signaled this was going to be a testy game.

Guess it’s a rivalry after all even with new faces.

However, the Suns wound up being the team that not only handled the flare-up better, but won the mental battle by being more composed and actually turning the tables on Dallas.

It was like, OK Mavs, y'all want to play games, the Suns can play games, too.

Suns coach Frank Vogel said they concluded at halftime the team that’s more composed in the second half "would have the advantage."

The Suns not only proved to be the better team in that area, but they got under Dallas’ skin by becoming the more physical team.

Josh Okogie wasn’t letting Doncic roam around in the second half. Durant went from barking about how the Mavs were playing him physically, a strategy all teams used with him, and screaming “that’s not basketball,” after getting fouled, to smiling off everything and embracing the situation.

In short, Phoenix got in Dallas’ heads.

Nurkic was standing over Williams after scoring in the third quarter, admitted to saying some things he declined to repeat and ran back down the court with a swag stride.

Williams jumped up, had to be held back and wound up getting his second tech that led to an ejection with 8:46 left in the third and Phoenix up eight.

And through all that madness, Booker, who has found his way into a few flare-ups, was calmer, cooler and cooking the Mavericks for 30 of his 46 in the second half.

The Suns won the mental game and avenged their Christmas loss in Phoenix to set the stage for what will be a crazy third and final regular season matchup on Feb. 22 in Dallas.

It’ll be both team’s first game out of the All-Star break. If the Suns and Mavs are both healthy as Kyrie Irving (thumb) didn’t play in the first two matchups, oh, it’s going to be lit like Times Square on New Year’s Eve here.

Bad look for Luka Doncic, Mavs

Everyone understands he complains about calls, but Doncic isn’t alone in that area.

Everyone knows he’s also one of the league’s best players who can single-handedly win a game.

Remember, Doncic just carved up the Suns like a Christmas ham for 50 points and 15 assists in that first meeting this season last month, which the Mavs won.

He nearly had a triple-double in a losing effort Wednesday, but Doncic lost his cool maybe even beyond his norm.

Doncic was leaving the court at halftime and was looking and talking to crew chief David Guthrie from across the court. Whatever he said or did, Guthrie wasn’t having it and hit Doncic with a tech.

The Suns then opened the second half on a 20-5 burst to go up 15 with 6:32 left in the third.

So the Mavs weren’t making shots, as they went 8-for-24 in the third, going 2-of-12 on 3s, while the Suns were hitting everything and Doncic’s frustrations kept rising and rising.

Then the fan happened.

Doncic reacted by turning around, staring at the guy and, well, you know the rest. This is a bad look for one of the game’s best.

Could he have let it go? Sure. Could the fan not have said anything? Absolutely, but it just looks like Doncic can’t handle some ribbing, especially when the team is losing, but he can’t be singled out here because the Mavs, as a team, lost it.

When they stopped making shots, their defense went to hell and they got run out of the gym. That's not a good sign for a team trying to compete for a championship.

Injury update – Bol Bol, Gordon sit

Bol Bol missed his sixth straight game with a right foot sprain. Vogel said he hopes Bol returns “sooner than later” during the seven-game road trip.

The 7-footer was able to do some running and shooting with movement in Wednesday’s morning shootaround. He said the foot was feeling better, called it a “mild” sprain, and said it was “nothing serious.”

As for Gordon, he missed his second straight game with right wrist soreness. He was listed as questionable on the initial injury report.

Damion Lee (knee) remains out.

Up next: Suns face Pacers for second time in a week

The Suns complete their home-away series with Indiana with a visit to Indianapolis, home of next month’s, NBA All-Star Game, on Friday, after beating the Pacers, 117-110, on Jan. 11 in Phoenix.

Durant scored 40 points, Booker went for 26 and Beal scored 25 in the win.

The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, who sat out with hamstring injury management. The All-Star point guard missed Indiana’s loss Tuesday at Denver.

Having lost its last three games, Indiana (24-20) plays host to Philadelphia (29-13) Thursday before facing Phoenix in what will be the second of a back-to-back for the Pacers.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Devin Booker cooks, Luka Doncic stares down fan, Suns rip Mavericks