PHOENIX – After blowing a 20-point lead in their Friday night loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns needed a big bounce-back in their home opener against the Dallas Mavericks.

They did exactly that.

The Suns improved to 2-1 on the season with a 114-102 victory over Dallas, winning their third consecutive home opener. Phoenix has now won their last 21 of 28 meetings against the Mavericks.

Without Bradley Beal (elbow) and Grayson Allen (personal), the Suns were forced to change their rotations against a fairly healthy Dallas squad.

Rookie Ryan Dunn got his first NBA start, while Royce O’Neale and Damion Lee saw increases in minutes.

It was a much-needed win for Phoenix to get past .500 and get off to a good start heading into a short two-game home stint.

The Suns took a 28-26 lead after the first quarter, despite thirteen early points from Luka Doncic. No other player on either team had more than six. Dallas converted on just 2-11 attempts from three-point territory.

Phoenix extended their lead to 13 points in the second quarter, with Jusuf Nurkic scoring 12 points in the period. Durant wasn’t far behind with nine in the second.

The Suns shot 43% from deep in the first half while hitting nearly 48% of shots from the field to take a lead.

The third quarter proved to be the same story for Phoenix (three Suns in Dunn, Durant and Booker scored 5+ points), and so did the fourth quarter, when the Suns took a 104-90 lead with just under seven minutes to play. built up.

Despite a handful of threes from Thompson and Doncic late to keep things interesting, the Suns were able to maintain their lead until the final buzzer.

– Kevin Durant: 31 points, nine rebounds
– Jusuf Nurkic: 18 points, 14 rebounds
– Ryan Dunn: 13 points
– Devin Booker: 21 points, five assists

– Kyrie Irving: 22 points, five assists
– Luka Doncic: 40 points, 10 rebounds
– Klay Thompson: 19 points

The Suns are back home on Monday to take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

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