Suns experience the Luka special, Mavericks rout Suns to force Game 7

In a series where the home teams have dominated, Luka Doncic and the Mavericks found another gear at home on Thursday night.

The Suns got to experience the Luka special — but not the kind Devin Booker mocked — as Doncic had 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. But more than that, he controlled the flow of the game and picked apart the Suns’ defense. Throw in Reggie Bullock (5-of-11) leading a Dallas team shooting 41% from 3 on the night, and it became a blowout.

The Mavericks dominated the Suns in Game 6, 113-86, setting up a Game 7 Sunday in Phoenix. This will be the Suns’ first Game 7 in their last two playoff runs.

"We need to sit on this. We need to understand that that team is a really good basketball team. But we also need to understand how good we are." – Monty Williams on having an extra day until Game 7

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) May 13, 2022

In Game 6, the Mavericks controlled both ends of the court.

On defense, they again did a good job contesting the mid-range shots that Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Suns thrive on — but Dallas was able to trouble Phoenix’s shooters all over the court. Look at the Suns’ shot chart.

Phoenix was hunting matchups, particularly for Paul and Booker, but they did it so much that they got away from some of what they wanted to do on offense in terms of ball movement. For example, the Suns in the first couple of games of this series pounded the smaller Mavericks inside with Deandre Ayton, and while he led the Suns with 21 points in this game they didn’t go to him early or often.

Then there were the turnovers — 22 of them for Phoenix. Or 23.7% of Suns possessions ended in a turnover, nearly one-in-four trips down the court.

However, the biggest problem for the Suns in