How the Mavs dominated the Suns in Game 7 to advance to WCF (2024)

Luka Doncic and the Mavericks completely dominated the Suns from start to finish, winning 123-90 in Game 7.

Doncic paced Dallas with 35 points, scoring 27 in the first half — the same as Suns' first-half total as a team. Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 points off the bench on 11-of-15 shooting from the field.

Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton combined for 26 points, on 9-of-27 shooting.

Follow all the action here as The Athletic NBA staff keeps you up to date with everything you want to know about this Western Conference semifinals Game 7.

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• Game 7: Mavericks 123, Suns 90 (Dallas wins series 4-3)

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(Photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports)

Luka Doncic and the Mavericks completely dominated the Suns from start to finish, winning 123-90 in Game 7.

Doncic paced Dallas with 35 points, scoring 27 in the first half — the same as Suns' first-half total as a team. Spencer Dinwiddie added 30 points off the bench on 11-of-15 shooting from the field.

Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton combined for 26 points, on 9-of-27 shooting.

This will be the fifth time a Chris Paul-led team has blown a 2-0 playoff series lead in his career.

His teams are 5-5 in series where they've taken a 2-0 lead (including this Mavericks series).

This has to be such a miserable experience for the Suns. You work from October to May trying to right the Finals wrong of 2021, when they were up 2-0 on Milwaukee before losing four straight.

And then, when faced with a Game 7 on your home floor in the second round against a Mavericks team that won 12 fewer games in the regular season, you're getting embarrassed so badly that you have to spend an entire second half knowing your season is unofficially over.

But you still have to dribble, and pass, and figure out what to say during timeouts. You hear the boos, see the fans who are staring up at the ceiling or even heading for the exits at the end of the third quarter.

I can't remember a more humiliating display by a title frontrunner.

Few outside Dallas expected the Mavericks to beat the Suns in a Game 7 in Phoenix.

Nobody expected a Dallas beatdown of THIS magnitude. Not even Mavs die-hards.

And now the Mavs will prepare for a Golden State team they don't fear? This can get really interesting.

That's the largest win ever in a Game 7.

The 2005 Mavs did that to the Rockets. Before then, a team had never won by 40 in a Game 7, though the 1948 Philadelphia Warriors beat up on the St. Louis Bombers by 39 in the old BAA.

The Mavericks have scored 92 points after three quarters. They’re shooting 53 percent from the floor, including an unfathomable 49 percent – 16-of -3 – on 3s.

But, this is the craziest number: they have just nine assists! Nine! They are just roasting the Suns off the dribble, on post-ups, whatever.

But it’s not coming off of getting the ball from strong to weak. They’re just hunting Phoenix defenders and cooking them. Unbelievable.

The Suns have lost four games in a five game stretch just once during the Chris Paul-Devin Booker era of the last two seasons.

That was when they lost five games during a six game stretch in Jan. 2021. They were just 16 games into their partnership.

So yeah, what a time to do this.

It's a 40-point Dallas lead now and the Suns have utterly embarrassed themselves. There's no other way to say it.

There were Mavericks fans mad at me for saying so, worried about me jinxing them. Well, first, I promise you my tweets have no effect on the results of any games. But second, do y'all remember you have Luka Doncic?

Who currently has 33 points on 17 shots? He wouldn't let that happen.

Luka Doncic: 27 points (9-of-12 from the field), nine rebounds three assists

Spencer Dinwiddie: 21 points (4-for-5 from 3)

Phoenix Suns: 27 points (10-of-41 from the field)

The visiting team selects which basket a team shoots at. This was the first game in Phoenix of this series that the Mavericks chose to have the Suns shoot in front of Dallas' bench.

The Suns proceeded to score 27 points on 10-of-41 shooting (24.4 percent). I wonder how much of a coincidence that is.

It's a 46-25 Mavericks lead with 2:45 left in the first half and I'm not really sure how to explain this game except that Phoenix has been unbelievably bad on the offensive end.

Like, completely collapsing under pressure and missing the exact same shots that carried them to this 64-win season, forcing jumpers with plenty of time on the clock and telegraphing passes that become easy turnovers.

The Mavericks have played well! But they have been far from perfect, and honestly should be up more. Their defense is solid, but it isn't their doing that the Suns are truly collapsing right now.

If something doesn't change before halftime, this game might already be over.