Suns erupt in fourth quarter to race by Mavericks for 2-0 lead in Western Conference semifinal

PHOENIX — There were 54 fouls called.

Eleven were offensive, with Phoenix picking up the first seven of them.

There were 30 3-pointers made. Dallas hit 17 of them.

Then there was Chris Paul.

With Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker and JaVale McGee all in foul trouble, the Suns turned to their floor general and once again, Paul delivered in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's 129-109 win to take a 2-0 series lead in the conference semifinals.

"It impresses us every time you see it, but it doesn't surprise us," Booker said. "It's just the will to win. If he sees a matchup he likes, you can hear their bench yelling, 'Send him left.' You can try whatever you want to do, but he has a rebuttal move for you at every turn. Not only can he score, he can make a play for somebody else if you leave your man."

Scoring 14 of his 28 points in the fourth, Paul, who turns 37 years old Thursday, had the sellout crowd of 17,071 rocking in the fourth to fuel Phoenix's offensive eruption.

"It's fun, I love it," said Paul, who shot 6-of-7 from the field in the fourth.

The Suns outscored the Mavs 40-26 in the fourth as they led by as many as 26. This after finishing Game 1 poorly in winning by just seven after leading by 21.

"You have to not only be impressed, but proud of the way we continue to win games mentally," Suns coach Monty Williams said.

The series now shifts to Dallas for Friday's Game 3 and Sunday's Game 4.

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"You've got to accept the challenge," Suns forward Jae Crowder said. "They have a lot of guys who put the ball in the basket and they try to get mismatches and stuff like that. Coming into this series, you have to accept the challenge of guarding these guys and making it as tough as possible."

Booker finished with 30 points on Wednesday as he hit three 3s in the fourth, with his final one putting Phoenix up 119-95 with 4:13 left.

"I love it," Paul said. "I kept watching. I kept seeing him and he's coming off left, right, whatever. I've played with a lot of great shooters in my career, but nobody like that. I'm the guy who, when he shoots it, I think he's going to go in every time. I'm pissed when he misses."

The crowd got louder and louder with each make.

"I liked the fourth quarter today," a smiling Booker said. "They're bringing it, man. The energy is in the house. The energy is around the city. I think everybody is on this revenge tour with us and it's fun to be part of it."

The Suns shot franchise playoff record 64.5% from the field and have shot 50% or better in all eight playoff games. That is also a playoff record for consecutive games shooting at least 50%.

The Mavericks must find defensive answers or the Suns will make that "Suns in 4!" chant from Wednesday's sellout crowd come true.

"The playoffs in general are about matchups," Booker said. "I don't think the seeding is always correct in terms of just different matchups because you're playing against different players. One team matches up better with another team. So it's hard to say, but we're only two games in. We haven't done anything yet."

Luka Doncic scored a game-high 35 points to lead the Mavs after going for 45 in Monday's Game 1.

"He had a great game, but no one else showed," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "We’ve got to get other guys shooting the ball better. We can’t win with just him out there scoring 30 a night. Not at this time of the year and we’re playing the best team in the league, and so we’ve got to get other guys going."

Phoenix led by six, 89-83, after three quarters thanks to a quick 5-0 burst fueled by Booker.

With Phoenix up two, Booker had an offensive rebound of a missed 3 by Cam Johnson and scored to put the Suns up four. Then Booker found Landry Shamet for 3 to make the difference seven with 33.1 seconds left.

Spencer Dinwiddie split two free throws with 22.7 seconds to end the scoring in the third.

Dallas led 60-58 at the half as Doncic had 24 points at the break. Jae Crowder led the Suns with 15 points in the first half, hitting 3-of-4 from 3.

Crowder hit six 3s on nine attempts in the first five quarters of this Suns-Mavs series. In six games against the Pelicans in the first round, Crowder shot 3-of-26 on 3s.

There were nine offensive fouls called in the first half with the first seven going against Phoenix.

Ayton and McGee each had two while Johnson, Ish Wainright and Paul each had one. Jalen Brunson and Dwight Powell each had one in the first half for Dallas.

"Our guys deserve credit for how they adjusted to that whistle," Williams said. "We didn't let it affect us and we also didn't let their shot making affect us in the first half."

Follow Duane Rankin on Twitter @DuaneRankin.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns beat Mavericks in Game 2 to take 2-0 series lead