PHOENIX — Jusuf Nurkic turned out to be the biggest difference-maker in the Phoenix Suns’ 114-102 triumph over the Dallas Mavericks on
Saturday night in the Valley of the Sun.
The Suns’ center scored 18 points, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, was 7-of-12 from the field, and played a lot of bully-ball at the Mavs’ expense.
“Yeah, he was aggressive,” coach Jason Kidd said. “We talked about it. We had to box him out.
“He got (three) offensive rebounds, and then in the post he made some layups and then he gave them a spark. He was good for them (Saturday).”
The performance by Nurkic came one night after he scored just four points, collected seven rebounds and was only 1-of-5 from the field during a 123-116 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.
“Just personally, I had to be better,” Nurkic said. “I have all the support I need from the coaches and organization, so (I’m) just trying to fit in.
“I didn’t play as many games as I wanted to in preseason, so it’s not perfect. I feel like sometimes I’m just not as aggressive as I should be, and I’m overpassing and trying to fit into the system.”
Acquired by the Suns from Portland exactly a month ago, Nurkic was moving bodies out of his way en route to his trips to the basket.
“He was just physical, attacking the basket,” Mavs guard Luka Dončić said. “He was using his body, and so he did that really well (Saturday).”
Here are the takeaways from the Mavs’ 12-point loss to the Suns.
LUKA WITH A 40 PIECE: Luka Dončić continued his dominance of the Suns. Now in his seventh season, Dončić tallied a game-high 40 points, picked up 10 rebounds, distributed four assists and was 12-of-25 from the field. Last year against the Suns, Dončić averaged 41.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg and 11.7 apg while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 47.4 percent from three-point range.
DURANT WAS SOLID: Suns forward Kevin Durant showed again why he is one of the best players on the planet. The University of Texas-ex collected 31 points and nine rebounds, and also was 10-of-21 from the field, 4-of-8 from behind the three-point stripe, and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe.
THOMPSON LIT IT UP FROM DOWNTOWN – AGAIN: One game after converting 6-of-10 baskets from three-point territory during his Mavs’ debut in Thursday’s season-opener against the San Antonio Spurs, Klay Thompson was back at it again from long distance against the Phoenix Suns. Overall on Saturday, Thompson was 7-of-16 from the floor, including 5-of-12 from downtown while scoring 19 points.
X: @DwainPrice
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