Grand Canyon Times

The Phoenix Suns are hoping that a poor performance in Game 3, in which they were overwhelmed by the Dallas Mavericks, will not hang over the rest of the Western Conference semifinal series. 

According to Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, after racing to a 2-0 series lead, the Suns dropped Game 3 to the Mavericks by a 103-94 score. Suns forward told the news outlet that it seemed the Mavericks wanted it more than the Suns. 

“They played harder, they played more aggressive,” Jae Crowder said. “I don’t want to say that was what we expected, but at the same time, they got pride. They're at home playing for their season so they played harder than us tonight and came out with a win.” 

Suns guard Devin Booker told the station that the performance wasn’t typical of the Suns this season, which he credits to the Mavericks. 

“They came out, played hard, played desperate,” he told the station. “But that’s that. We got a series.”

Suns head coach Monty Williams cited turnovers and a low number of shots attempted, according to the station, especially the backcourt of Booker and Chris Paul. 

“You give them 17. And those two, they never have those high turnover games like that,” he told 98.7. “We’d love for those guys to get more attempts, especially with the minute total they had.”

According to Arizona Sports 98.7, Williams added that the Mavericks were playing with intensity from the start. 

“When you see us at 94 points and 23 assists, that’s just not a typical game for us but they brought it from the jump,” he concluded, according to the outlet.