Mavericks' moment of truth: After Chris Paul's Suns picked on Luka Doncic, what can Dallas do in Game 3?

Down 2-0, how can the Mavericks help their superstar?

In a way, the Dallas Mavericks' latest loss was something new. During the second half on Wednesday, Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns pushed a foundational element of modern basketball to an extreme. It was sort of like when Stephen Curry burned down Madison Square Garden from beyond the arc for 54 points, but, instead of hunting 3s, the Suns persistently, ruthlessly hunted Luka Doncic.

Doncic had been picking apart the team that didn't pick him first overall, and then, on virtually every possession, Phoenix was picking on him. Over and over, Paul called for Doncic's man to set a pick, and, over and over, that action created an advantage and the advantage led to a bucket. The Suns put him in 19 ball screens in the second half and scored 1.81 points per chance on those possessions, per ESPN and Second Spectrum.

In another way, the Mavericks' loss was the same old story. Just like Game 1, and just like many of their playoff losses against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2020 and 2021, Dallas had scored enough points to win, but it couldn't get the stops it needed. It was yet another defeat in which Doncic had been extraordinary early and exhausted by the end.