DETROIT — Every team in the Western Conference feels like it’s one significant move away from separating itself from the muck and being established as a power.
Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks illustrate that better than anyone, it seems. Monday, they seemed to validate their run to the conference finals in a Game 7-like beatdown of the hot Phoenix Suns.
A few nights before, it was hard for them to muster the requisite energy to match a hungry Detroit Pistons team — falling in overtime in a game they looked like Luka and the Donettes as they fell to 1-8 on the road.