The Phoenix Suns went into Dallas and won against a short-handed Mavericks team.
The Dallas Mavericks are in freefall right now. The team best positioned to take advantage is the 11th placed Phoenix Suns.
The Suns took a step towards capitalizing on the Mavs situation, going on the road to Dallas and winning.
Despite their roster problems the Mavs still put up a decent fight, but fell 116-125 to the visitors. The game leaves the Mavs 32-33 after losing five straight, just ahead of the 30-34 Suns.
Speaking post game, shared via Duane Rankin on X, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was asked about facing the short-handed Mavericks, who have been rocked by injuries.
He was asked, ‘how weird is it to come in here and play the Mavs with no Luka’, in reference to Dallas trading away Luka Doncic in early February. The team have been on a cursed run of injury luck since.
Booker responded: “You can feel it when we land,” in reference to a lack of buzz around the home team.
“The vibes are low right now, but hopefully they can look back and once everybody gets healthy, on top of next season, still root on their team and root on their city.”
The Dallas Mavericks injury problems got worse in the loss to the Suns, leaving them trying to work out how many players they have available for the next game.
Brandon Williams left the game with an injury, while Walker Kessler and Dwight Powell both exited and required stitches after clashing heads. It was an incident that summed up their season.
General Manager Nico Harrison was watching on from the sidelines, wondering what had happened to his grand plan to compete for a title, with Kyrie Irving out with a torn ACL.
The Mavs have a top roster when everybody is healthy, and Naji Marshall stepped up with a career high 34 points. But like whatever the Mavs do right now, nothing is enough.
