DALLAS — — Jusuf Nurkic made the second of two free throws with 0.8 seconds left after he was fouled on an offensive rebound, lifting the Phoenix Suns to a 114-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.

Kevin Durant scored 26 points and Nurkic had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Suns improved to 8-1 for the first time since 2009-10. Two of the wins were over defending Western Conference champion Dallas.

Nurkic had given the Suns the lead with 31 seconds left with a dunk on a putback from a Durant miss. Daniel Gafford even got Dallas to 113 on an alley-oop dunk from Luka Doncic, who had 30 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.

Royce O’Neale missed a runner in the lane in the final seconds, but Nurkic grabbed the rebound and was bumped by several Dallas defenders on a missed shot as the buzzer sounded. Gafford made a mistake on the play.

Doncic fell short on a desperate three-pointer at the buzzer.

O’Neale scored 18 points for Phoenix and Devin Booker had 13 points and 12 assists.

Kyrie Irving scored 29 points and Naji Marshall had 18 for Dallas.

Takeaways

Suns: O’Neale was a big boost off the bench, with the Phoenix reserves outscoring the Dallas bench 28-9 after leading 23-9 in the first meeting.

Mavericks: Gafford’s major issues came after offensive partner Dereck Lively II was out due to a sprained shoulder. Dwight Powell had to play a season-high 25 minutes and picked up five fouls.

Key moment

Nurkic’s decisive rebound came after O’Neale’s only miss, which was 7 of 8.

Key stat

Phoenix didn’t have a big lead in offensive rebounds at 11-8, but six of those came in the fourth quarter. Nurkic had all three in the fourth.

Next

The Suns play at home against Sacramento on Sunday. The Mavericks are in Denver on Sunday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA