Mavericks vs. Suns: 3 things before Dallas faces Phoenix again

The Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns have had a simmering rivalry ever since the infamous Game 7 shellacking. They've already gone head-to-head once this season, and it was an early disappointing loss. With a full strength and rested roster, Dallas coldn't fend of a Suns team playing on the second night of a back to back.

Now, With the Mavs beginning to feel the strain of some injuries to key rotation players like Dante Exum, Maxi Kleber, PJ Washington and especially their defensive anchor, the young Dereck Lively, Dallas will need to play with some additional grit to makeup for the pieces their missing from the lineup.

Beat the best The first few weeks of the season, wins and losses feel a bit softer. Nobody really knows how good any particular team is quite yet, and players are still rounding back into game form. Some time has passed since their last meeting, and after downing Dallas, the Suns have gone on to notch six straight wins and sit atop the West.

The Mavericks, sitting at 5th, have played well, but have a big opportunity in this game; take down a conference-leading rival team on a hot streak? That's the kind of thing that fills the sails for a while. There's been a lot of roster changes since this quasi-rivalry was kicked off, but there's little doubt that Luka Doncic won't have rallied the new arrivals to his cause. He's petty as hell.

So hot right now The Suns have built their 7-1 record on the back of some pretty hot three-point shooting. They have the fifth-highest three-point frequency in the league at 47.3%, meaning that nearly half the shots they take are from behind the arc.

Dallas is a team that, after the trade deadline last season, was one of the better defenses in the league. The hope was that that defensive prowess would stick around for a full season now that they had the pieces in place. So, things look solid. Dallas has been holding opponents to just 32.2% on threes - fifth-best in the league. Now, the question is, is that real or a mirage induced by playing the hurting Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls? Trying to keep Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, two players taking over six threes a game at over 40%, from getting hot from deep would be a testament to a real reformed Dallas defense.

The Reserves Dallas and Phoenix are two remarkably similar teams. Both lead by All-Star duos in Doncic/Irving and Durant/Booker. Both have an over-qualified 3rd supporting piece in Klay Thompson and Bradley Beal. It would not be surprising for these starting lineups to play each other to a draw. Luka is playing well of late after it took a couple games to knock the rust off his jumper.

This game may well come down to which team's bench can wrestle the upper hand away. Neither has been potent this season, scoring just 27 per game – Dallas is 26th and Phoenix is 24th in bench scoring – so someone like Spencer Dinwiddie or Quentin Grimes getting hot for a night and tilting the playing field could pay outsized dividends for Dallas.

How to watch You can broadcast or stream the game on ESPN at 6:30pm.