Devin Booker, Suns Embrace Tough Road Test vs. Mavericks in Game 6
It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish.
The Phoenix Suns, after two lackluster games against the Dallas Mavericks, once again found themselves trailing Luka Doncic and company after the first quarter of Game 5.
However, the Suns managed to find their groove to eventually pull ahead of Dallas prior to halftime 49-46.
Phoenix's third quarter efforts truly paved the way for an tremendous finish to Game 5. The Suns forced 12 Mavericks turnovers (their season average for an entire game was 12.5) and held Dallas to a scoreless period of over five minutes, eventually outscoring them 33-14 in the third.
It was Phoenix's best offensive output in a quarter since Game 2.
Devin Booker paved the way with 28 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two fouls on Tuesday. Deandre Ayton also contributed 20 points and nine rebounds.
In Games 3 and 4, the Mavericks thrived off of forcing turnovers and converting open looks from beyond the arc.
Game 5 was a different story. The Suns turned the ball over just 12 times and Dallas shot a mere 25% from three-point land following their astounding 45.5% conversation rate from Sunday.
"Just protect our home court," answered Booker when asked what the goal was for Tuesday in his interview with TNT following the win. "We've been in a few series now, we've only swept one team so that's not what we expect. We expect it to be a hard fought and a grind-out series (with Dallas) and that's what it's been so far."
Phoenix now heads back to Dallas with the opportunity to close the series out after taking a 3-2 lead. Teams who have won Game 5 when tied have gone on to win the seven-game series 82% of the time.
In their last four instances of closing out a series on the road, the Suns are a perfect 4-0. A tough task now awaits them on Thursday when Phoenix again hits the road. The home team has won in each game this series.
"Us road warriors, we embrace it. Its fun, this is fun," Booker said.
"You have to realize we earned to be in this position, to be on this stage and be a game away from the Western Conference Finals again. So we're doing everything we can and we're gonna keep playing hard all the way until the end."
