PHOENIX — Even with superstar point guard Luka Doncic anxiously sitting on the bench in street clothes, the Dallas Mavericks had the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns on the ropes Wednesday night at Footprint Center.

But the Suns put on a huge fourth-quarter rally and managed to wiggle free and win in the waning seconds, 105-98, while the Mavs failed to deliver the knockout punch.

It marked the 10th straight victory for the Suns – the longest streak in the NBA this season – while the Mavs fell to 9-5. It was a gallant effort by the Mavs, who led for the lion’s share of this game before missing some easy opportunities buckets down the stretch and seeing their bid for a major upset go awry.

“We gave up a couple of threes there in the zone (defense), so we’ll look at that to see how we can get better,” coach Jason Kidd said. “But the guys played hard and gave ourselves a chance to win on the road against the (defending) Western Conference champs, who also had won nine in a row.

“So, everyone in that locker room executed the game plan. We just missed some shots down the stretch, and they didn’t. So, we’ll go look and see how we can do better for Friday.”

The Mavs  and Suns (11-3) will go at it again on Friday at 9 p.m. on this same court.

Doncic missed Wednesday’s game while recovering from a sprained left knee and sprained left ankle he suffered in Monday’s 111-101 victory over the Denver Nuggets. His absence was sorely noticeable, especially when the game was hanging in the balance and the outcome was begging for the Mavs to seize control.

“I feel like we could have played so much better,” forward/center Kristaps Porzingis said. “It was weird also playing without Luka. He’s normally orchestrating all the offense, and now we’re kind of out there looking at each other like what are we going to run?

“So, I think we were a little bit unprepared for that maybe — us as players out there. I think maybe if Luka is out the next game, I think we’ll do a much better job at that.”

After Jalen Brunson tied the game at 96 with a layup with 2:42 remaining, the Mavs were just 1-of-4 from the floor with two turnovers the rest of the way.

Former Mavs forward Jae Crowder put the Suns ahead for good with 2:34 left with a pair of free throws. Shortly thereafter, Tim Hardaway Jr. misfired from downtown, Porzingis missed a tip-in, Dorian Finney-Smith turned the ball over, and Chris Paul saved the ball from going out of bounds and flipped it to Deandre Ayton for a dunk and a 100-96 lead for Phoenix with 1:27 to go.

On a night when he was just 2-of-12 from the field and only scored seven points, Paul still found a way to impact the game during crunch time as he finished with 14 assists.

“You’re talking about a future Hall of Famer, one of the best,” Kidd said. “That’s what players like that (do).

“They make plays at the end of games no matter what they’re shooting from the field or how they’re playing. They’re always going to find a way to win, and he did that. He made a winning play for the Suns.”

So, too, did Devin Booker, who – after Reggie Bullock missed near the rim – drained a three-pointer that vaulted the Suns ahead, 103-98, with just 50.2 seconds remaining. In the end, it was a game the Mavs controlled for over three-and-a-half quarters, but couldn’t seal the deal.

“I’m just happy that we fought all the way to the end without Luka,” said Hardaway, who poured in a team-high 22 points. “We persevered through a lot of ups and downs throughout the entire game, but I’m happy we made sure that we kept our foot on the gas and everybody stayed aggressive.

“Just a couple of defensive slips throughout the course of the game. Just not only the last three minutes, but throughout the course of the game, I think, put us in the back a little bit. We just got to move on and move forward and watch film tomorrow and see what we did wrong and correct those mistakes that we did.”

The Mavs were impressive on the defensive end in the middle two quarters when they limited the Suns to just 43 points. But Phoenix turned it up a notch and outscored the Mavs in the fourth quarter, 37-25.

“I think for us, the guys on the floor, we’ve got to communicate a little better,” said guard Jalen Brunson, who collected 18 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. “Down the stretch we’ve got to talk better on the defensive side of the ball. That’s just unacceptable by us.”

That was the sentiment from everyone associated with the Mavs.

Reserve guards Frank Ntilikina and Trey Burke kept pressure on the Suns by scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively. And the Mavs outrebounded Phoenix (50-49) and also were 16-of-32 from downtown for 50 percent to just 13-of-39 for the Suns for 33.3 percent.

“We missed a couple of easy layups toward the end (and) it kind of got the crowd into it,” said Porzingis, who finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven assists. “They got a couple of stops and the momentum went on their side, and then it was tough to stop them.

“We come out of this game with the feeling that, obviously the team wins and the team loses. But I feel like a lot of it is on me. I should have played much better. I had no legs. I left my legs at the hotel.”

Thanks to six points from Porzingis, the Mavs jumped out to an 8-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. And thanks to three-pointers from Finney-Smith and Brunson, the Mavs were still nursing an eight-point cushion (65-57) with 4:46 to go in the third quarter.

But the Suns kept chopping away at their deficit, and the Mavs just couldn’t sustain everything they built for over three quarters.

Obviously, a player of Doncic’s ilk could have tilted the scales in the Mavs’ favor.

“If Luka was in, we don’t know where we are in the position of that game,” Kidd said. “But the guys who played, they played their heart out. We just came up short.

“And I think it’s a great lesson, because Luka could be in foul trouble or Luka isn’t playing due to an injury. I just hope this gives these guys confidence that they can compete at the highest level.”

Twitter: @DwainPrice

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