In many ways, Opening Night for the Phoenix Suns versus the Dallas Mavericks was a microcosm of their entire playoff series back in May.
That seven game series was close but not that close. Sure, it went seven games but every game felt like a blowout for one team or the other, like Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed (or maybe Ivan Drago vs. Apollo?) taking turns laying haymakers.
On Opening Night of the 2022-23 season, the teams faced each other again and guess what — this time, since it’s only a one-game series, they decided to land haymakers by halves.