MyDallasMavs: Mavs Win 91-83 and Move to 3-0 Against the Suns

The Mavericks headed into their second game of their 6-game road-trip looking to move to 3-0 against the Suns and to push their winning streak to 4, and did just that.

The Suns made a change to their starting lineup putting in Gortat and Dudley over Lopez and Carter. For the Mavs, Marion started for the third straight game along with the usual starters Dirk, Kidd, Roddy, and Chandler.

The Mavs' turnover woes continued from their last game into tonight's as they put a strain on the Mavs' offense, basically handing the quarter to the Suns. Dallas missed 10 straight shots and soon Nash and Gortat pushed the Suns' lead to 12 and ended the quarter with the 26-17 lead. Dallas had a terrible first quarter offensively, shooting just 5 of 25 from the field.

In the second quarter, the Mavs managed to climb back within 6, but the Suns didn't let them come back and pushed their lead back to 10. Soon after, Carlisle was getting so frustrated with the refs that it eventually led to a technical foul. However, like usual, the Mavs didn't give up and came back within 3 with the help of Peja. Despite the Mavs' efforts to come back, the Suns took the 49-44 lead at the half. The Mavs' played much better in the second quarter but were still outshot 51.2% to 32.6% and each team had eight turnovers in the first half.

In the start of the third quarter, the Mavs managed to pull within one but Roddy soon got three fouls early in the quarter, totaling four. He made up for it by hitting two 3-pointers to keep the Mavs' in the game but soon got his fifth foul sending him to the bench. JJ tied the game at 63 with an and-1 but the Mavs still trailed 67-65 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter started with scoring from Dirk and JET did what he does best in the fourth, sinking in a 3-pointer to put the Mavs up 70-69--their first lead since the start of the first quarter. Terry hit another 3 later on but the Suns tied it at 75 with just under 9 minutes to go. The lead went back and forth as the two teams battled it out to the end. Jason Kidd hit two extremely important back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Mavs up 89-83 with 44.4 seconds left. The Suns offense fell apart from there and although the Suns outshot the Mavs 42.5% to 38.1%, the Mavs finished with the 91-83 win.

The Mavs have now won four straight and move to 3-0 against the Suns. Dallas is also now 12-1 against Pacific division teams, their only loss coming from the Lakers. This was the Suns lowest scoring game and Dallas held them to just one 3-pointer the whole game.

Five Mavs' scored in double figures: Terry, Kidd, and Chandler all had 16 points. Terry hit two 3-pointers, Kidd hit five 3-pointers, and Chandler had his 18th double-double of the season with 18 rebounds. Dirk racked up 15 points and 7 rebounds while Roddy added 10 points.

For the Suns, the only players to score in double-figures were Gortat and Dudley who both had 20 points each and Childress with 12 points.

Next, the Mavs travel to Cali looking for their fifth straight win as they face the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday night.