Paul's stellar fourth quarter puts Phoenix in control

PHOENIX－The top-seeded Phoenix Suns were braced for another fourth-quarter playoff fight on Wednesday night.

Chris Paul turned it into an early knockout.

The 12-time All-Star scored 28 points, including 14 in another spectacular final quarter, to lead the Suns over the Dallas Mavericks 129-109 for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Paul, a 12-time All-Star who turns 37 on Friday, almost single-handedly turned a tight game into a comfortable victory－the Suns' 11th win in a row against the Mavericks counting regular-season games.

"You've just got to lean on the work," Paul said. "It all goes back to the work. You can't cheat the game. You've got to do the strength and conditioning, you've got to lift, you've got to get your rest, you got to get your shots up.

"When you do that, you live with the results."

Suns guard Devin Booker said he's run out of ways to describe Paul's fourth-quarter heroics.

"You guys tell me, you're watching the same thing," Booker said. "It impresses us every time we see it, but it doesn't surprise us."

The Mavs led 60-58 at halftime but the Suns quickly recaptured the lead after Booker hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the third. The Suns took an 89-83 advantage going into the final quarter and it looked like a tough fight was coming.

But that's about the time Paul decided the game was his to control, hitting six shots in a row on everything from 3-pointers to mid-range jumpers to layups. The feisty Mavericks finally didn't have an answer. Booker hit a pair of 3-pointers midway through the fourth to give the Suns a 114-95 lead.

Booker led the Suns with 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range. The Suns shot 64.5 percent overall－which was a franchise record in the playoffs－and made 52 percent of their 3-pointers. They shot 84 percent from the field (16 of 19) in the fourth quarter.

"We have good players," Suns coach Monty Williams said. "I'd love to sit here and tell you I'm moving the chess pieces around, but we have good players who can knock down shots."

Game 3 is on Friday in Dallas.

The Mavericks will go home in a 2-0 hole, desperately needing contributions from someone other than Luka Doncic, who scored 35 points on 13-of-22 shooting two nights after a 45-point performance in Game 1.

"He had a great game, but no one else showed," Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. "We've got to get other guys shooting the ball better. We can't win with just him out there scoring 30 a night. Not this time of the year and playing the best team in the league."

Reggie Bullock added 16 points for the Mavs.

"The mood is fine," Doncic said. "I think a lot of players, it's the first time in this situation. They've got to win four, so it's not over yet. We are going to go back home, our crowd is amazing."

The Suns jumped out to a 9-0 lead for a second straight game, but the Mavericks had a better response than in Game 1.

Dallas slowly fought back and Spencer Dinwiddie hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 38. Davis Bertans followed with a 3-pointer with 7:56 left in the second quarter to give the Mavs a 41-38 advantage and their first lead of the series.

Agencies via Xinhua