Donovan Mitchell Takes Over as Suns’ Late Rally Falls Short

The Phoenix Suns finished the 2025 calendar year with a 129-113 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, dropping to 19-14 on the 2025-26 season.

It was a game where Cleveland practically dominated from start to finish despite a strong third quarter from Phoenix.

Donovan Mitchell stole the show at Rocket Arena -- amassing 34 points, ten rebounds and seven assists on the afternoon.

For the Suns, they simply took too long to get going. Devin Booker erased an eye-opening poor start to lead the team with 32 points.

Quick recap of action on New Years Eve:

First Quarter

Cleveland's intention to establish dominance was apparent from the jump, as the Cavaliers dominated the paint early on to take a 37-21 lead after the opening 12 minutes.

Cleveland paced the Suns in paint points 14-4 while also leading Phoenix 10-0 in fastbreak points. Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 10 points.

It was a slow start on both ends of the court for Phoenix, who shot a poor 27% from the field, making just eight of 30 attempts.

Devin Booker went 0-4 shooting in the first.

Second Quarter

Cleveland's lead reached up to 20 points early in the second before Suns coach Jordan Ott saw enough and called a timeout.

Phoenix responded well, as the Suns dwindled their disadvantage to 12 points before Kenny Atkinson decided to use a timeout of his own for the Cavs.

Booker finally registered his first points in action with just under six minutes left in the first half.

Mitchell completed a circus and-one shot with two seconds remaining to push Cleveland up 67-54 entering halftime.

Dillon Brooks paced the Suns with 20 points while no other Suns player had more than eight. They trailed for 89% of the first half.

Meanwhile, Mitchell, Mobley and Merrill all had 10+ points for Cleveland as the Cavaliers had 17 team assists.

Third Quarter

It didn't take Booker long to get going, as he quickly scored 10 points in the first four minutes to cut Phoenix's deficit to under ten.

The Suns trailed by as little as five before Cleveland emerged with a 96-89 lead entering the fourth.

Booker finished the third quarter with 25 points, which led all scorers while Jordan Goodwin collected 14 rebounds despite shooting 1-10 from the field.

Booker also collected a technical foul for arguing with an official after a no-call on a layup attempt.

Fourth Quarter

The Cavaliers eventually saw their lead emerge back to double digits thanks to an 11-3 run that initially stemmed from late in the third quarter.

A pair of Mitchell threes early in the fourth quarter forced Ott to call another timeout as Phoenix quickly found themselves down 16 with under ten to play.

Before the Suns could blink again, their largest deficit of the game (21) ballooned -- which erased any hope of Phoenix making another late push.

Ott emptied the Suns' bench with just under four minutes left in his surrender to defeat.