PHOENIX – If you were giving out a game ball on Friday, it should have gone to Maxi Kleber.
The veteran big man wouldn’t necessarily admit it, but he was kind of waiting for a game like this. He had a season-best 15 points and seven rebounds, tying his high water mark for the season.
And it could not have come at a better time.
The Mavericks already were missing Dereck Lively II, their starting center. Then forwards Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington got ejected during a third-quarter dustup with Suns’ center Jusuf Nurkic.