Takeaway: Naji Marshall stepped up big-time during loss to Suns

Naji Marshall made the most of his time in the Dallas Mavericks’ starting lineup on Friday night.

Starting in place of the injured P. J. Washington, Marshall tallied 18 points and collected five rebounds during the  heartbreaking 114-113 loss to the Phoenix Suns, which was decided when Jusuf Nurkic converted a free throw with just 0.8 seconds remaining. Marshall was 7-of-12 from the field, including 2-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc, in 29 workmanlike  minutes.

“He was great,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s guarding everybody. You can ask P. J. how he feels.

“He’s got to guard everybody, he’s got to make open shots, he’s bringing the ball, he’s playing with toughness.”

Because of injuries to Dereck Lively II (right shoulder sprain), Maxi Kleber (right hamstring strain), Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) and Washington (right knee sprain), Marshall has to do more heavy lifting than he’s accustomed to doing as one of the mainstays off the Mavs’ bench. And it was his bucket near the rim following a mad scramble that gave the Mavs their largest lead of the night – 97-91 – with 7:47 left in Friday’s game.

Marshall, who started the past two games, signed a three-year, $27 million free agent contract with the Mavs this past June 30 with hopes of becoming like a Swiss Army knife type of player. He’s just delighted to be playing under a coach like Kidd, who is a 10-time All-Star, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, an NBA champion and is also the league’s No. 2 all-time assist leader.

“He sees the game differently,” Marshall said of Kidd. “The pointers and attempts he gives me out there are unbelievable.

“I love the passion. Him being who he is kind of goes hand in hand.”

Whenever Washington is healthy enough to return to the court, that’ll free up Marshall to return to the bench. And that should bode well for the Mavs, who saw Marshall tally a season-high 20 points off the bench this past Monday against the Indiana Pacers.

“As we get healthy here, hopefully with Naji coming off the bench, that’ll give us a spark and we’ll go from there,” Kidd said. “But he’s playing great.

“Again, he’s taking what the defense gives him, he’s physical on the other end, so there’s no complaints with Naji right now. He’s playing well.”

Here are the takeaways from the one-point loss to the Suns.

POINTS IN THE PAINT: Just from the eye test, the Mavs orchestrated things very well inside the paint, where they outscored the Suns, 58-48. The Mavs were 29-of-39 from the field inside the paint for an impressive 74.4 percent. There were a few layups coach Jason Kidd was disappointed his team didn’t convert. Meanwhile, the Suns were 24-of-37 from the floor inside the paint for 64.9 percent.

BENCH SCORING TIPPED THE SCALE: Behind 18 points from Baylor-ex Royce O’Neale, the Suns’ bench outscored the Mavs’ bench, 28-9. Without much scoring punch from the bench, that forced the Mavs to play Luka Dončić 42 minutes and Kyrie Irving 41 minutes.  “The fatigue of running Luka and Kai 40-something minutes (is tough), because our bench stinks right now,” coach Jason Kidd said. “As deep as we are, we’ve got to get someone who can (expletive delete) participate off the bench. Somebody has to join the party to help Kai and Luka, and that’s just not happening right now.”

A DURANT TAKEOVER: In the first half, the Mavs limited Suns forward Kevin Durant to just four field goal attempts and only nine points. But in the second half, Durant tossed in 11 points in the third quarter and added six more in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 26 points, five rebounds and two blocks. With the Mavs ahead, 102-100, Durant buried a three-pointer to put Phoenix up, 103-102. And with the Mavs nursing a 107-103 lead, Durant nailed another three-pointer to get the Suns within 107-106 of Dallas with 3:17 remaining in the game.

X: @DwainPrice