PHOENIX — About 90 minutes before Game 2 Wednesday night, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was adamant:
His team — down 1-0 to the NBA-best Phoenix Suns in this second-round playoff matchup — felt no pressure to tie the series or risk a gloomier outlook hours later.
No doubt they’re feeling more urgency now.
The Mavericks face a 0-2 series deficit after losing 129-109 to the Suns Wednesday night in Footprint Center.
Luka Doncic thrived again on offense — scoring 35 points on 13-of-22 from the floor and 5-of-10 from 3 and adding seven assists and five rebounds in 36 minutes — and a handful of teammates provided more shooting support than in Monday’s series opener.
But Phoenix outscored them 71-49 in the second half to overcome a chippy, foul-trouble-heavy whistle fest to dampen the Mavericks’ hopes of maneuvering a No. 4-seed upset into the Western Conference Finals.
In 439 best-of-seven NBA playoff series that have started 2-0, just 31 teams (7.1%) have overcome the deficit to advance.
To do so would now require the Mavericks to snap their 11-game losing streak to the Suns — who have also won 18 of the last 21 matchups — and triumph at least once in Phoenix, where they’ve gone winless since November 2019.
Prepare for a tense atmosphere when the series heads to American Airlines Center for Friday night’s Game 3.
The Suns’ All-Star duo of Devin Booker (30 points) and Chris Paul (28) combined to shoot 22-of-35 (62.9%) from the floor to torment the Mavericks’ defense that played long stretches without Dorian Finney-Smith, who wasn’t alone in near-constant foul trouble. Paul added 14 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the fourth quarter, his NBA-best fourth time scoring more than 10 points in the final frame this postseason.
Reggie Bullock supported Doncic’s offensive production with 16 points on four 3-pointers, and the Mavericks reserves outscored Phoenix’s bench 43-36 to prove TNT wasn’t actually airing a replay of Game 1, as it might’ve appeared in the early goings Wednesday.
But the Mavericks’ second consecutive slow start foreshadowed their first back-to-back losses since mid-March and just their second two-game slide in the 2022 calendar year.
Doncic committed a turnover on the Mavericks’ first possession, again.
The Suns scored nine points before Dallas tallied one, again.
Two key Mavericks endured first-quarter foul trouble, again — this time Jalen Brunson with two in the first six minutes and Finney-Smith with three in 7:20.
Before tipoff, Kidd had delivered a simple message to his team — “we belong here” — because he sensed his team — about half of whom had never played beyond the first round — started Game 1 with nerves, while the 2021 Finals runner-up Suns played with a comfortable edge to open a quick double-digit lead.
Players heeded the message in the second quarter, when their lone disjointed facet came via officiating.
The crew — led by notorious quick-whistler Tony Brothers — called 30 fouls in the first half and put the Mavericks in the penalty three minutes into the second quarter.
In a 47-second stretch midway through the period, officials called four offensive fouls in the span of five possessions and another two looks later.
Finney-Smith sat the last 14:27 of the first half with three fouls. Brunson and Davis Bertans played through three apiece, too. So did the Suns’ Deandre Ayton, Cameron Johnson and JaVale McGee.
The Mavericks still outscored Phoenix by nine points (15-6) in the 5:09 Doncic sat to start the second quarter to open their first lead of the series — 64 minutes after it started — and soon after Doncic returned, he drained three 3-pointers in the last three minutes of the half to boost their 60-58 halftime lead.
Doncic’s quick spark foreshadowed the Suns’ second-half torching.
Phoenix hunted matchups against Doncic in pick-and-roll defense — to keep him from conserving energy and to expose his lack of burst and versatility as the Mavericks’ low man.
Dallas tried to move their 23-year-old All-Star around — flashing rotations and double-teams at times — but Paul’s intentional mid-range pull-ups and offensive orchestration gave Doncic a taste of how most other defenders feel facing Luka Magic down the stretch.
In total, officials called 54 fouls in the game, and seven players drew at least four.
Kidd emptied the Mavericks’ bench with 4:41 remaining and boisterous fans throughout Footprint Center cheered in unison: “Suns in four! Suns in four!”
Another reminder of the Mavericks’ deepening series hole.
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