Depending on how you felt about the Dallas Mavericks heading into this season, either the first or second half of the loss to the Phoenix Suns on opening night will stick with you for longer.
If you think the Mavericks can take the next step after their 52-win, Western Conference Finals run from a season ago, that first half was awfully tasty, wasn’t it? Just about everything that was predicted to go right for the Mavericks did — Luka Doncic looked incredible and in peak condition, Spencer Dinwiddie was more than capable as a secondary playmaker, the key pieces of the surprising defense from last season all still looked locked in, with Dorian Finney-Smith, Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kleber, and third year forward Josh Green making things hell for the Suns in the first 24 minutes.