Mavs Beat Suns

DALLAS — Effort and intensity at home had been missing from recent Dallas Mavericks’ efforts.

That wasn’t the case Monday night.

“We played extremely hard from start to finish,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle.

Point guard Deron Williams scored 18 in his return and Dallas snapped a three-game home losing streak by holding off the Phoenix Suns 104-94 at American Airlines Center.

The Mavericks (14-11) also salvaged the final game of a three-game homestand after losses to Atlanta and Washington last week.

“This was a win we had to have after dropping two bad ones at home,” small forward Chandler Parsons said. “We needed this one against a team that’s going to be sticking around right there in the Western Conference.”

The Mavs came out of the halftime locker room with a head of steam, breaking open a close game. Dallas outscored the Suns 31-15 in the third quarter, including an 11-0 run to end the period for a 77-58 lead.

“Third quarter it was their aggression that took us out of it,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said.

Phoenix (11-15) had won three of its previous four games before losing to Dallas for the season time this season.

Five other Mavs joined Williams in double figures. Parsons scored 17 off the

bench in a season-high 28 minutes. Point guard Raymond Felton added 17 points and shooting guard Wesley Matthews scored 13.

Power forward Dirk Nowitzki snapped out of mini-shooting slump with 14 points on five-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds. Reserve guard Devin Harris scored 12 and tied his career high with six steals.

Phoenix was led by 23 points and seven assists from point guard Eric Bledsoe, but it was the bench (forward T.J. Warren, guard Sonny Weems and guard Archie Goodwin) that led a fourth-quarter charge after the Suns were behind 23 points.

A 13-0 spurt pulled Phoenix within 83-73 with 7 1/2 minutes remaining.

Parsons followed with a four-point play after being fouled on a 3-point make and the Mavs appeared to right the ship before another Suns’ push.

Warren’s three-point play cut it Dallas’ advantage to 96-90. Bledsoe was fouled on a 3-pointer with 1:21 left and made two free throws to make it 98-92.

Williams, who made eight of 16, answered with a 3-pointer and the Mavs closed it out.

“We knew we just had to keep hanging in, keep grinding, keep trying to stay in front of them and keep attacking them,” Carlisle said. “It’s an important win for us.”

The Suns were left questioning their effort on the second night of a back-to-back.

“I feel like we played good for a good two quarters,” Bledsoe said. “The third quarter killed us and the fourth quarter we gave it all we had and we fell short.”

Suns power forward Jon Leuer had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Point guard Brandon Knight had 12 points, all coming in the first half.

Warren scored 10 in 19 minutes. Weems had nine points and knocked down his first two 3-pointers of the season. Goodwin scored six and grabbed four boards in 11 minutes.

Williams, back after missing a game with a stomach ailment, set the tone offensively in the early going by getting to the basket and scored 11 in the first half.

Suns center Tyson Chandler (six points and three rebounds in 14 minutes) came off the bench in his return to Dallas after leaving this past summer as a free agent. Chandler is still working his way back after missing eight games with a hamstring injury.

The Mavericks are at Indiana on Wednesday before returning home for Memphis on Friday.

The Suns’ quick two-game road trip concludes at Golden State on Wednesday.

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