Suns eclipse Doncic's heroics to draw vs blood vs Mavs
MIAMI – Deandre Ayton scored 25 points as top seeds Phoenix overpowered Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Monday (Tuesday, Manila time) to take Game One of their NBA Western Conference semifinal series.
Doncic led the scoring with a game-high 45 points but it was not enough to stop Phoenix claiming a wire-to-wire 121-114 victory in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series opener.
Ayton shot 12-of-20 from the field for Phoenix while Devin Booker added offensive thrust with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Chris Paul chipped in 19 points and Cameron Johnson added 17 from the bench as six Suns players posted double-digit points totals.
Phoenix had sprinted out of the blocks to lead by 10 at the end of the first quarter and surged into a 69-56 lead at the interval.
They led by as much as 21 points in the final quarter before a furious late onslaught led by Doncic saw Dallas get to within five points in the closing seconds.
The Mavs rally ultimately fell short, however, leaving Phoenix 1-0 up ahead of Game Two on Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
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