3 Factors to Dictate Suns vs Mavericks Second Round Playoff Series

The Phoenix Suns closed the book on their first round series against the pesky New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, putting together a solid final chapter via a 115-109 Game 6 victory. Chris Paul played perfect, literally perfect in the contest, going 14-14 from the floor and totalling 33 points and eight assists.

But even after that performance for the ages, there is little time to celebrate. The Suns now find themselves slated to face off against the Dallas Mavericks. With that, it’s time for Monty Williams and the staff to begin their game planning.

This season Phoenix won all its contests vs the Mavs. While doing so, they manage to score over 100 points each time—a key accomplishment vs what has been one of the league’s better defensive teams this year.

This series will also be Dallas star Luka Doncic‘s first venture past the first round in his young NBA career. After missing a few games against the Utah Jazz last series due to injury, Doncic roared back to the floor, averaging over 31 points per game after returning.

With this next round not starting until Monday night, that gives both Doncic and Devin Booker time to fully recover from their health setbacks. So with these teams expected to be at full strength when Game 1 tips, Monty’s aforementioned game-plan will need to be top notch.

In giving him something of a blueprint for that, he and the Suns will need to focus on these three important factors that promise to dictate the series.