{"id":47886,"date":"2025-11-13T12:11:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/47886\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:11:12","slug":"mavericks-regain-home-court-advantage-but-suffer-yet-another-loss-to-phoenix-suns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/47886\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks regain home-court advantage, but suffer yet another loss to Phoenix Suns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first game of the post-Nico Harrison era<\/a> at American Airlines Center featured a different vibe for the Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n

There were no \u201cFire Nico!\u201d chants. Instead, the passionate fan base exerted that energy into cheering for their team throughout the night, just as Jason Kidd and the rest of the Mavericks hoped<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chants of \u201cDEFENSE!\u201d AND \u201cLET\u2019S GO, MAVS!\u201d set the stage for a thrilling fourth quarter as the Mavs trimmed what was once an 18-point deficit to three with 1:48 left. It was a welcome sound for the home team, but wasn\u2019t enough to help them put the ball in the basket when they needed to most.<\/p>\n

After playing in a hostile environment for the majority of their home games, the Mavericks regained their home-court advantage but suffered a 123-114 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Former\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Mavericks forwards Anthony Davis (left) and Cooper Flagg sat on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns at American Airlines Center, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Dallas. <\/p>\n

Chitose Suzuki \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The Mavericks are now 3-9 overall and 2-6 at home. They remain with the second-worst record in the Western Conference because New Orleans also lost on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mavericks fans may have gotten their wish<\/a> by seeing Harrison dismissed, but what happened on the court was more of the same. Another night of a struggling offense that couldn\u2019t get started until it was too late. Another night of bad turnovers. And another night that featured an injury to a key player.<\/a><\/p>\n

After an impressive 5\u00bd-minute stretch to start the game, P.J. Washington checked out of the game at the 6:35 mark of the first quarter because of a left shoulder strain and did not return, leaving the Mavericks without one of their best perimeter defenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the group played hard but to lose him five minutes into the game with a left shoulder strain, that put us down a guy who was playing well for us,\u201d Kidd said.<\/p>\n

Dallas had a 17-9 lead at the time Washington exited, but Phoenix finished the quarter on a 12-0 run. The scoring spree allowed the Suns to find a rhythm offensively, especially from beyond the arc. Phoenix connected on 40% of its 3-pointers. The Suns had five players in double figures, led by Devin Booker\u2019s 26 points and nine assists.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

The Mavericks had six players reach double figures, led by Klay Thompson\u2019s season-high 19 points off the bench. He made 6 of 16 from beyond the arc and played a key role in Dallas\u2019 comeback effort.<\/p>\n

Brandon Williams had perhaps his best overall night of the season, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Christie added 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

Cooper Flagg, who was coming off the best game of his young career<\/a>, showcased his versatility and finished with 16 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks, including one of Booker that left Mavericks fans cheering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have not given the fans a lot to love,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cI think that is part of it and I think we take a lot of responsibility on that and having lost the fans a little bit. … The fans have been there. They stepped up tonight. They were huge. They were loud. They were positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went to the locker room in the first quarter after aggravating his left shoulder, which he injured on Oct. 27 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but returned after a few minutes. It didn\u2019t appear to affect him, especially on the defensive end. Flagg said he was \u201cbanged up\u201d and said his body is adjusting to the rigorous NBA schedule, but assured he would be all right.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got hurt, but I thought he came back and played at a high level,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cHe\u2019s a tough kid. There\u2019s no quit in him and I think you can see that his spirit goes throughout the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas entered the game with a record of 2-6 in clutch games, which are defined as a game with a five-point margin within the final five minutes. Kidd attributed the loss to turnovers. The Mavericks had 21 turnovers, including six in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe margin is so small for us,\u201d Kidd said. \u201cWhen we\u2019re behind, we can\u2019t turn the ball over. We gotta get shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kidd acknowledged the energy in the arena was good after saying he thought fans were being disrespectful by chanting while the Mavericks were at the free throw line in Monday\u2019s loss to Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll need a repeat effort from their home fans to snap their two-game losing streak in Friday\u2019s NBA Cup game against the Los Angeles Clippers. <\/p>\n

X\/Twitter: @MikeACurtis2<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Letters to the Editor – Nico Harrison, traffic, Dallas Opera review, immigrants<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers still mourn the loss of Luka Don\u010di\u0107; offer advice to decrease North Texas traffic; disagree with a Dallas Opera review; and accept legal immigrants but have issues with non-legal ones. <\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>Lakers\u2019 Luka Doncic fields Nico Harrison questions in first postgame since GM\u2019s dismissal<\/a><\/p>\n

Doncic was asked if he could ever see himself returning to Dallas now that Harrison was out of the picture.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Dallas Mavericks\u2019 injured list grows as PJ Washington makes early exit vs. Suns<\/a><\/p>\n

Another bad break for the banged-up Mavericks…<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first game of the post-Nico Harrison era at American Airlines Center featured a different vibe for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4642,102,104,2582,103,4280,4281,3080,6538,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-47886","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-cooper-flagg","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-headlines","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-dallas-news","13":"tag-jason-kidd","14":"tag-mavericks","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nico-harrison","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}