Suns' rally over Mavs provides some 'get-back' for playoff exit

PHOENIX — The first half of Wednesday night's season opener conjured up the still-fresh painful feelings from last spring's embarrassing playoff exit for the Phoenix Suns. Once again, the Suns were being dominated by Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at home.

That made the rally from a 22-point deficit for a 107-105 win at the Footprint Center that much sweeter for the Suns.

«If you get your asses kicked, you want to get your get-back,» Devin Booker told ESPN's Jorge Sedano during the postgame on-court interview, acknowledging the humiliation from a 33-point blowout loss in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals. «That's just life.

»We still have 81 games to go. I said that before the game. It's a good start. I think it's a good start to show our team if we're down early that we can come back in games."

The Suns earned the top overall seed last season in large part due to their closing ability, as they were an NBA-best 33-9 in clutch games, as defined by the score being within five points in the final five minutes. In that sense, this was kind of a characteristic performance for Phoenix.

But this comeback had deeper meaning for the Suns, whose chaotic offseason that started with that awful loss to the Mavs included owner Robert Sarver putting the team up for sale under pressure in the wake of scandal, tense contract negotiations with center Deandre Ayton that ultimately ended with the Suns matching a maximum offer sheet he signed with the Indiana Pacers and former starting forward Jae Crowder mutually agreeing with management not to report for the final season of his contract, among other things. And, of course, the NBA scheduled the Mavs to return to Phoenix for the opener, a made-for-TV rematch of that