PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns need to show fight and focus in the growth process early in the year, and Saturday's 114-102 victory over the Dallas Mavericks was a real step back in that direction.

“I think we played closer to a complete game,” Devin Booker said. “We emphasized at the start of the second quarter that we had abandoned leads this year, so we're just trying to maintain the sense of urgency.”

Phoenix wasn't perfect on either end, but faked a Dallas team that put together a few different quality stretches to persevere. This allowed the Suns to get enough rebounds, control the ball enough, and block enough shots at the same time.

What's hard to believe when you consider the recent history of this matchup is that the Suns defeated the Mavericks both at the foul line (28-15) and from distance (14-13). In 14 total meetings over the last two seasons, including the playoffs, Phoenix has made more free throws than Dallas only twice and made more three-pointers only once, never in the same game.

Again, winning a basketball game doesn't require much more than closing the gaps and not getting hurt when you're ahead in these two areas. Second chance scores were 10-9 Suns and their 11 turnovers resulted in just 11 Dallas points.

Bradley Beal was sidelined with a right elbow injury. He told Arizona Sports He hopes to be able to play on Monday and that it's nothing serious. This paved the way for rookie Ryan Dunn to make his first career start.

While not a prevailing opinion in this area, it has been a hot point of discussion that Beal is best used off the bench, which always makes nights like this interesting since the Suns signed Dunn ( or anyone else) get rolling. Beal's spot would add to that momentum. Phoenix's standard starting lineup through two games was a pitiful -21 in 19 minutes.

To be fair, Beal has been the Suns' best player in two contests and has played very well along with some reserve players in that time. Mega-salary players like Beal rarely make this transition because of an unspoken (or sometimes spoken) hierarchy that has existed in the NBA for decades.

The possibility exists for this team if either 1) the Suns are successful in parts of the season where Beal misses time, or 2) Beal clearly has trouble adjusting.

Saturday was none of those things, but even so, the debate will only be fueled if Dunn continues to play like he did on Saturday. He made three of his six attempts from three, and although he struggled with foul trouble while defending a 40-yarder against Luka Doncic, he impacted Doncic on a handful of possessions in a way no one else on the roster is capable of. He gets to know some of the fouls stars can commit, as his five prove.

And that's actually a good thing. Let Durant explain.

“I just love his attitude, I love that he’s physical, I love that he actually draws fouls,” Durant said. “I would rather you be physical and go to the side of physicality, and then you have to control yourself a little bit from there, rather than play softly and try to move up to physicality.”

Dunn has defended James Harden, LeBron James and Doncic in his first three games. He spent a lot of time studying tape and asking the veterans on the team what he should pay attention to. Dunn didn't know he would start until half an hour before the game, but had already watched a lot of Doncic (and Kyrie Irving) during the preparation.

“It’s a crazy lineup,” Booker said of who Dunn has defended so far. “We all try to give him our input, but experience is the best teacher. He picks up on things, he wants to learn and he pays attention. He usually doesn't make the same mistake twice. This is a mature newcomer.”

While Dunn believes he has already improved as a defender this week, he also noted the number of fouls he has received.

“I think I did a good job,” Dunn said. “(Doncic) also had 40, which to me is just crazy. I think it’s just a matter of improving and seeing what I can do.”

There were a few shots from Dallas' offense in the second half of the second quarter, but Jusuf Nurkic scored 12 straight points in less than four minutes to keep Dallas at bay. The Mavericks went small and Nurkic was able to find the right touch around the basket. It was a big moment for him after struggling badly the night before and not looking much better in the first quarter.

A touch shot from Irving brought Dallas within six points with 9:20 left before six straight shots missed, some of which looked quality. Phoenix eventually responded with 3s via Dunn and Durant, extending the lead to a dozen.

“This is a huge game for us and I think that got us going,” Durant said of Dunn's 3.

In the end, Nurkic had 19 points, 14 rebounds and five turnovers. Durant downplayed the freebies and liked how Nurkic “kept it simple.” Nurkic said he felt he had gone too far to fit into a new system and that he was no longer as aggressive, but stressed several times that he needed to play better.

“That’s far too much. … I like what I want to do, but it's not working, so I just have to get better,” Nurkic said of his turnovers.

“You have to realize that teams' game plan is to be super physical with us and mess up the game, so we're going to have a few turnovers just to get through this,” Durant said of the 38 total the first two games.

This was not a rebound explosion from Booker, a result that had previously been the most logical guess after his underperformance in the first two games of the year. But what he did best over the four days of the season was attacking the basket to create ball movement and three-pointers. He only had five assists on Saturday, but it was much more impactful. He continues to look for his shot, shooting 4 of 12 with 21 points, five assists and one turnover.

Durant's shooting technique was impeccable and her constant presence was ultimately the reason the Suns won the game. He scored 31 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, one block and one turnover. Both guys had their best defensive games of the season.

Royce O'Neale is now +46 after three games, the seventh-highest mark in the league. He scored a total of 19 points. O'Neale may not jump out of sync most nights, but if you keep a mental note of when he makes a nice pass, sets a smart screen, grabs a big rebound or blocks something defensively, you'll run out of bandwidth real quick.

And O'Neale had a highlight play anyway, which was him making a layup and then sprinting back into that play.

ROYCE WITH THE CHASEDOWN BLOCK 😱 pic.twitter.com/zgqm9QNFWO

– Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 27, 2024

“That play just changed the game,” Durant said of it. “I think coaches all over the country and around the world can show their teams this kind of performance.”

O'Neale finished the game with seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and this block in 27 minutes. Grayson Allen was sidelined for the second straight game due to personal reasons, making O'Neale's game all the more important.

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