Score of Mavericks vs. Suns takeaway: Devin Booker leads Phoenix to pivotal Game 5 win against Dallas

The Phoenix Suns are one win away from a spot in the Western Conference finals after dominating the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night in a 110-80 win to take a 3-2 series lead. The Suns benefited from dominant second-half scoring as four players finished the win in double figures, led by Devin Booker’s 28 points and seven rebounds. Deandre Ayton added 20 points as the Suns made a point to get him more involved on offense, and Mikal Bridges came off his shooting slump to finish with 14 points.

Despite a strong first half, Dallas fell behind by double digits early in the second half and never got back into the game. Poor shooting and 12 turnovers in the third quarter left the game wide open in favor of the Suns, and now the Mavericks face elimination in Game 6 on Thursday night.

Here are three takeaways from Game 5 between the Suns and Mavericks.

1. Suns rekindled that magic early in this series

Phoenix looked like a shell of itself over the weekend in back-to-back losses to Dallas. Chris Paul had atypical turnovers in Game 3 and was completely fouled out in Game 4. The Mavericks looked the same as Phoenix while playing at home, but in Game 5 on Tuesday the Suns reminded him of Dallas, and everyone in the league, why They were the best team in the regular season.

Although the first half was even, the Suns asserted their dominance in the third quarter and never looked back. Phoenix outscored Dallas 33-14 in the third quarter, holding the Mavericks to just 6-of-16 shooting from the field and forcing 12 turnovers. Dallas looked completely out of it on offense, settling for bad shots because of Phoenix’s stifling defense, and looked completely helpless at the other end as Booker and Bridges continued to cook after halftime.

It was exactly the kind of performance the Suns needed after two lackluster performances on the road. They rotated the wide man better on defense and limited Doncic’s ability to push to the rim and kick him to the perimeter. Without those kicks to guys like Dorian Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock and Maxi Kleber, the Mavericks were forced to beat the Suns with just Doncic, and just like the first two games of this series, that plan didn’t work out.

2. Dallas roleplayers were MIA

Entering Game 5, the Mavericks had three guys shooting over 40 percent from deep in Finney-Smith, Bullock and Kleber. On Tuesday night, those three guys combined to go just 3-for-12, and Bullock missed all three of his attempts he took. Dallas isn’t going to win a lot of games with those three guys battling it out, and it was just part of the bigger picture that was the Mavericks’ offense completely floundering in the second half.

Between blank stares and silly turnovers, it seemed like Dallas had completely forgotten the formula that won it the last two games. The 12 turnovers the Mavericks committed in the third quarter were the the most a team has committed in a playoff quarter since the Knicks in 2012, according to ESPN Stats and Info. That’s ugly.

It wasn’t just the role players, either. While Doncic finished the game with 28 points, he once again struggled to be efficient from beyond the arc, going just 2-for-8 from center. He is now 3-for-18 in the last two games from long range. Though Doncic racked up 11 boards, he finished with just two assists, once again not fully trusting his teammates, something Dallas head coach Jason Kidd has mentioned numerous times this season.

After finishing Game 4 with 22 assists, the Mavericks had only nine on Tuesday night. That’s just an unacceptable number for a team that has a great passer like Doncic. That low assist total paints a picture of Dallas’ lack of ball movement, and he can’t go into Game 6, an elimination game, playing the same way he played Tuesday night.

3. Suns on brink of conference finals for second straight year

Phoenix completely outplayed Dallas in several ways on Tuesday night, and now the Suns are carrying the momentum heading into Game 6, a closing game on the road. While Phoenix has been in this exact position before in this series, high up before hitting the road, something in Game 5 felt different than their first two wins this series. It wasn’t just that the Suns forced Doncic to beat them while limiting everyone around him, but they also did a decent job of limiting his overall impact on the game. Doncic wasn’t getting to the rim as easily as he has throughout this series, and Phoenix’s plan to stop activating ball screens helped keep Bridges off Doncic.

That feels like a formula the Suns can take into Game 6, and while I don’t think the Dallas players will play as poorly as they did in Game 5, I do think Phoenix can pull off another win to close out this series. . If that happens, it will be the first time the Suns have reached back-to-back Western Conference finals since 2004-06.