NAME OF CITY: PHOENIX (AP) When Luka Doncic calmly sank his first three shots to give the Dallas Mavericks an early lead in Game 7, there was no surprise.
During the next two hours, the Phoenix Suns, the top seed, remained silent.
The Mavericks beat the Suns 123-90 on Sunday night, moving to their first Western Conference finals since 2011 thanks to Luka Doncic’s 35 points and Spencer Dinwiddie’s 30.
Kidd, Mavs coach: “A lot of people said it would be a blowout.” “They were correct.”
Even though the Dallas Cowboys were expected to win, they were not. The Dallas Mavericks fought back from a six-game deficit to win the series in a hostile environment.
Conversely, the playoff-tested Suns, who went to the NBA Finals with a virtually similar squad last season, were an embarrassing no-show.
Phoenix guard Chris Paul said the team has worked hard all season to get here. “It wasn’t meant to be.”
Golden State will host the fourth-seeded Mavericks in Game 1 on Wednesday.
There is no way that Doncic could remove the smile from his lips. My mood has been elevated to an entirely new level today. “I think we deserved it,” I tell myself.
Doncic opened the scoring for the Mavs with two 3-pointers in his first three tries. In the first quarter, Dallas jumped out to a 27-17 lead, and at halftime they had a 57-27 advantage.
Dallas’ bench players Doncic and Dinwiddie combined for 48 points in a 57-point victory. Luka Doncic scored 27 points in the first half, which equaled the Suns’ total.
The Game 7 saga? Not in the arid climes.
The news still comes as a shock to Dinwiddie.
In a nutshell, the Suns appeared overwhelmed by the prospect of playing in Game 7. They missed jumpers they usually make, made terrible passes they usually don’t make and looked nothing like the team that won an NBA-best 64 games during the regular season.
“I know how much they wanted it,” Suns coach Monty Williams said of his team’s spirit and ethics. ”We just could not execute tonight. Couldn’t hit a shot early, that screwed with us a little bit and Dallas played their tails of from start to finish.”
By halftime, many Suns supporters were booing at the awful show.
The series might have been close but the individual games usually were not. Three of the first six games were decided by at least 20 points and none of the games came down to the final possession.
Game 7 followed a similar trend, but the team doing all the damage was the road team. The Mavs led this one by 46 points.
Doncic was terrific, making shots from all over the floor and finishing 12 of 19 from the field, including 6 of 11 on 3s. He also received some help: Dinwiddie was spectacular in the first half with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
They became the eighth set of teammates to score 30 points in a Game 7, the first since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2002.
Meanwhile, Phoenix’s All-Star backcourt of Paul and Devin Booker was never a factor. The 37-year-old Paul is a 12-time All-Star that has done just about everything possible in the game but win a title.
After this failure, it’s fair to wonder if there will be many more opportunities. Booker finished with 11 points and shot 3 of 14. Paul had 10 points and four assists. The Suns shot just 37.9 percent from the field.
”You could sense some of the pressure was on them early,” Kidd said. ”They missed some shots they regularly make.”
Dallas overcame the odds with the win: After the Celtics upset the Bucks earlier Sunday, the home team was 110-33 (77 percent ) in NBA Game 7s.
It’s the second straight year the Suns have lost a postseason series after having a 2-0 lead. They won the opening two games against the Bucks in the NBA Finals last season before losing four straight games.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Doncic and Dinwiddie became the first teammates to reach at least 20 points in a half in Game 7 since Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston accomplished it for the Knicks in 1997, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Suns: Phoenix shot just 6 of 23 (26.1 percent ) from the field in the opening quarter. … The Suns hosted another sellout crowd at Footprint Center.
Celebrities in attendance included baseball star Alex Rodriguez and artist Lil’ Wayne. … The Suns became the second club in NBA history to win at least 64 games in the regular season and not make the conference finals.
The other was the Mavericks in 2007. … Phoenix has still never won a title since coming joined the league in 1968. … Deandre Ayton played barely 18 minutes and finished with five points and four rebounds. When asked about Ayton’s lack of playing time, Williams answered ”It’s internal.” Ayton did not talk to the media postgame.
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