The Dallas Mavericks maintained their stranglehold on fourth place in the Western Conference by defeating the Phoenix Suns 98-89 on the road on Friday night. Kyrie Irving had a balanced scoring performance for Dallas with 20 points. Kevin Durant scored 35 points in the Suns’ loss.

With Dallas missing not only Luka Doncic but also Dereck Lively, one would have expected a lackluster start from the Mavericks. Instead, the threesome dominated early, led by Kyrie Irving with three straight plays, giving Dallas an early 14-4 lead. After the Suns called a timeout, the Mavericks lost focus and allowed Phoenix to get right back into the game. It was a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the quarter, with Kevin Durant sinking tough shots and Dallas finding ways to score. After one quarter, Dallas led 28-25.

The Dallas substitute managed to defend and score well in the second quarter and slowly built the lead back to double digits. Elite role player production from Maxi Kleber (who dunked!), Naji Marshall and even some work from Dwight Powell kept the pressure on Phoenix. Irving picked up his third foul on a kickout, but head coach Jason Kidd decided to keep him in the game. Dallas played lockdown defense on the block and went into halftime with a 55-39 lead.

Dallas continued to push in the third period and took a double-digit lead. The intense defense got under the skin of Jusif Nurkic, who committed an offensive foul that drew the ire of Naji Marshall. The resulting turmoil escalated to the point where Nurkic, Marshall and PJ Washington were ejected. The Mavericks struggled offensively in the quarter, making just four field goals. The Suns weren’t much better and Dallas maintained the large lead until the final minutes, when Durant’s free throws cut the lead back to single digits. Dallas took a 72-64 lead in the final frame.

Klay Thompson got the party started for Dallas in the fourth period by hitting two long-range shots (one of which was later ruled a two-pointer), giving the Mavericks momentum back. The teams traded baskets, only the Mavericks hit more threes than twos to pull away to a 15-point lead. The Suns didn’t take it easy and cut the lead to eight, but a dunk from Daniel Gafford over Maxi Kleber gave Dallas enough cushion to survive the game. Dallas picked up a win in Phoenix, 98-89.

Now some thoughts.

Welcome back, Maxi Kleber

Folks, Maxi scored 33 points this season before his 15-point outburst against the Suns. And with Luka and Lively sidelined and Marshall and Washington ejected, Kleber’s reminder that he is actually a professional basketball player who can do more than just help out defense really helped the Mavericks in this game.

Do we expect a game like this from Maxi again? He scored five double-figure goals in 43 games last season and this was his first since May. So I think he can help the Mavericks even more in the upcoming phase. We should really hope that Kleber looks confident and plays accordingly. For the last two years he had been a shell at times, his body having suffered some strange injuries. But he’s still a useful player! We hope it continues like this.

Please find a way to give Kyrie some more rest

Kyrie went an incredible 4-of-4 from three. He went on to shoot 2 for his next 17, including a ridiculous 1 of 11 from two-point range. The man simply couldn’t buy a basket. Of course, one can assume that Irving was tired. Just two days ago he lost 37 minutes in a loss to the Wolves, then Kidd played him for most of the second half (Irving finished with 40 minutes tonight), largely because he had no one left.

Still, it’s important that Dallas’ other start doesn’t fall apart so that Dallas can survive (and perhaps thrive?) in the next however many games without Doncic.

Thoughts about a fight

Just kidding, I’m not that stupid. Well, maybe I am. It was gratifying to see Marshall stand up for Gafford. Even more gratifying was Marshall beating Nurkic’s clown face. It was delightful that PJ Washington gave Nurk a push that ended the fight and might have saved us from any real fisticuffs. I love seeing players compete against each other and sometimes get over each other.