Wonder for Dallas. They are getting it. Anyone who saw the superiority that Phoenix had shown at home, especially in the first game, would doubt if what has been seen this Sunday is real or an illusion. The dominance of the runner-up has been notorious, without giving the visitors the opportunity to get fully involved in the game that led them to touch the top of the NBA with their fingers last year. These Suns are not recognized and Monty Williams will have to work to rebuild the identity and, above all, the confidence of some players. Mikal Bridges is not the Swiss Army knife, he is a somewhat rusty nail clipper, and Chris Paul, to give an even more blatant example, has gone from directly winning a match for his team -the second- to being fouled out with hardly any protest and without even reaching the last minutes alive.
The Mavericks keep the briilos, the good feelings and the carefree game are now on their side, and without counting on the best version of Luka Doncic in this fourth appointment. 26 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists and 3 steals are an impressive stat line, although doing it with 9/25 shooting and missing nine of his ten 3-pointers makes it truly reflect that it was not his best night. It was, yes, a good closer. There he dominated and the absence of Paul in front was noted. The end result was 111-101 and the series goes 2-2.
Phoenix is breaking. They have the opportunity to show that he is just a blip. The Pelicans also took them to six games and here the Mavericks have made sure they get to at least that point. The worst is what they transmit. Ayton doesn’t have the devastating effect that was anticipated against a team playing without a dominant center. Crowder and Johnson go on streaks, although they stick their heads out. Payne is not the most trusted player despite the fact that he did not clash on this fourth day. Booker is the only one who opposes MVP at some point. Paul, because of how he has lowered benefits in line with the results, is the one that worries the most and the most seeing the bad attitude shown -for someone used to protesting and not necessarily for the worse- at the American Airlines Center.