Down to seven healthy players, Mavericks fall to Suns
DALLAS — With a bandage over his left eye, Kessler Edwards returned from the locker room and headed to the scorer’s table to check back into Sunday afternoon’s game for the Dallas Mavericks with 6:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.
That was the last substitution that Mavericks coach Jason Kidd made in a 125-116 loss to the Phoenix Suns, primarily because he didn’t have any choice.
The injury-ravaged Mavericks entered the game with only nine available players, three of whom suffered injuries Sunday afternoon, including two on the same play when Edwards and center Dwight Powell collided heads while chasing a rebound. Powell, who received seven stitches to close a gash in his forehead, and guard Brandon Williams (hamstring tightness) didn’t return.
Guard Dante Exum and forward Caleb Martin weren’t available after the midway point of the fourth quarter because they are on minutes restrictions after recently returning from extended injury absences.
“Never seen this,” Kidd said. “Never been in a game where we could not take someone out to rest them because we had no one to put in. At the end of the bench, usually you can put someone in. If they were not in [street] clothes, they were in the back getting stitches or could not move or walk. It’s tough. It is what it is, though. You’ve got to keep pushing forward.”
Powell told ESPN he expects to be available for the second game of the Mavericks’ back-to-back set in San Antonio on Monday. That would allow Dallas to field an active roster with the league-minimum eight players.
Kidd said he anticipates Williams, a guard on a two-way deal who started Sunday, will miss some time and that none of the players who were inactive against the Suns are expected to be available Monday night. The inactive list includes Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain), Kyrie Irving (torn ACL in left knee), Kai Jones (left quad strain), Dereck Lively II (right ankle stress fracture), Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist sprain) and P.J. Washington (right ankle sprain).
The Mavericks can’t add any reinforcements despite having an open roster spot — and more than enough injuries to qualify for a hardship roster exception — because they are only $51,000 below the salary cap’s first apron and cannot exceed that threshold. A 10-day contract pays $119,972.
Center Moses Brown averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds in the final two games of his 10-day contract that expired March 1, but the Mavs couldn’t afford to sign him to a second 10-day deal.
“We can’t sign anybody, so me and Duds cost too much,” Kidd said jokingly, referring to Mavs assistant coach Jared Dudley, whose 14-year NBA playing career ended in 2021. “You’ve got to laugh or else this will drive you crazy.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss at least one to two weeks with a groin strain, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday.
James will wait for the groin injury to calm down Sunday and receive another evaluation, sources told ESPN, but the Lakers are braced to be without him for a period of time and will be cautious as they hold the third seed in the Western Conference.
James exited Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics with with 6:44 remaining in the fourth quarter and did not return.
After the game, James downplayed the injury, saying there was “not much concern” and vowed to “go day to day” in treating it.
The 22-year veteran missed 17 games during the 2018-19 season after suffering a torn groin on Christmas Day.
“I’ve been there before, and I know what type of injury you’re dealing with,” James said Saturday.
Los Angeles is entering a treacherous stretch of its schedule, playing six contests in the next eight days — including two games apiece against the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks.
James, 40, who has played in 58 of the Lakers’ 62 games through Saturday, is averaging 25 points on 51.7% shooting (38.4% from 3), 8.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds this season.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.
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Suns hold off injury-depleted Mavs 125-116
Watch CBS News
March 9, 2025 / 7:16 PM CDT / AP
Devin Booker scored 24 points, Kevin Durant had 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and the Phoenix Suns beat the injury-depleted Dallas Mavericks 125-116 on Sunday.
Bradley Beal scored 19 points and Grayson Allen added 17 as the Suns pulled within 1 1/2 games of Dallas for the 10th seed in the Western Conference, the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Naji Marshall had a career high for the second consecutive game with 34 points for the Mavericks, the defending West champs who were down to seven healthy players by the end of the game.
Dallas big men Kessler Edwards and Dwight Powell went to the locker room after their heads collided chasing a loose ball late in the third quarter. Guard Brandon Williams was later ruled out with left hamstring tightness.
Edwards returned with a bandage over his left eye, but Powell didn’t come back after walking to the bench with a bleeding forehead, getting treated briefly and leaving the court.
Suns: Rim protection is a big issue for the vertically challenged Mavs. And Mason Plumlee had three consecutive dunks in the first half, then back-to-back alley-oop slams after the break. The 6-foot-10 Plumlee finished with 13 points.
Mavericks: Dallas matched its longest losing streak of the season at five games and dropped below .500 for the first time since mid-November. The Mavs have lost all three games since star guard Kyrie Irving’s season-ending knee injury.
Booker hit a jumper that started a 19-2 run for Phoenix, bridging the first and second quarters that put the Suns in front for good. Phoenix turned a 22-18 deficit into a 37-34 lead.
The Suns shot 58% from the field.
Both teams finish a back-to-back Monday. The Suns visit Memphis, and the Mavericks play the first of consecutive games in San Antonio.
___
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Suns pick up must-have win over depleted Mavericks
PHOENIX SUNS
Mar 9, 2025, 3:21 PM
BY KELLAN OLSON
Suns reporter, ArizonaSports.com editor
With 18 games still to go after Sunday, a matinee matchup with the Dallas Mavericks was as much of a “must win” as the Phoenix Suns must win, and they did so in a 125-116 final.
The magnitude of importance stems more from the rumblings of a colossal closing schedule, as opposed to the implications on the standings.
Of those 18 games, 13 for Phoenix are against teams in a top-six playoff position in their respective conferences. The other five are a pair against the surging Sacramento Kings, a potentially vital matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in the second-to-last contest of the year and two must-haves against Toronto and Chicago in a week’s time.
Fortunately for the Suns (30-34), their battle for the 10-seed and a place in the postseason will come down to who sucks less out of them, Dallas (32-33), Portland (28-36) and San Antonio (26-35). It is highly improbable any of those four squads tear off a major run in this final month. The test comes down to who can tread water the best.
Dallas is so shorthanded that it was missing the guys you expect to step up when the main contributors are out. Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), Jaden Hardy (right ankle sprain) and Olivier-Maxence Prosper (right wrist sprain) are nursing injuries while Anthony Davis (left adductor strain), Kyrie Irving (left ACL tear), Dereck Lively II (right ankle fracture) and P.J. Washington (right ankle sprain) are too. That left the Mavericks with nine available players, two of whom are on minutes restriction.
Still, three of the Mavericks’ five leaders in minutes played were out there on Sunday in Spencer Dinwiddie, Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall. That’s not a lot of firepower per se but there is at least familiarity with the system on the floor.
This win, like the rest that will follow for the remainder of the season, was defined by the Suns’ extreme shooting efficiency making up for their extreme team deficiencies in other areas.
Phoenix began the game with three straight turnovers and Dallas was up to eight points off turnovers six minutes in. The Suns went on an 8-0 run to end the first quarter up eight and extended the lead to 15, only for Dallas to cut it to six at halftime despite Phoenix shooting 60%.
In the Mavericks’ current state, it’s going to be a challenge to reach 110 points, which is slightly below league average. They didn’t really have too much of an issue creating open jumpers on Sunday. It was just a matter of making enough of them.
So, as long as Phoenix kept the gears of its own shot-making spinning well enough, it would be the victors.
The Suns’ field goal percentage went up to 63.9% through three quarters to lead by 11, a period in which Dwight Powell and Kessler Edwards collided heads to send them both out and put the Mavericks down to seven available players, all of them under 6-foot-7.
As Dallas did a few times earlier in the game, it continued to claw back at the growing deficit. It started the fourth quarter generating open 3 after open 3 off Suns center Mason Plumlee staying in the paint, something a perimeter defense can make up for if there’s enough effort, but we know the story there.
Phoenix adjusted up eight with nine minutes left by going small itself. Edwards, a 6-foot-7 wing that was Dallas’ “starting center,” returned a few minutes later while its leading scorer from Friday’s loss Brandon Williams did not play in the fourth quarter due a hamstring injury.
Dallas missed six of its next seven shots at that point, tossing in a turnover that let the Suns balloon their lead back to 16 with 4:35 to go. That was the last gasp.
Low 3-point volume for the Suns, 10-for-28 (35.7%), might appear first glance as a lack of desire to get those up but their ball movement was good enough most of the afternoon to toss that type of notion aside. They managed 33 assists and only 10 turnovers, meaning it was only five giveaways for the remaining three-and-a-half quarters.
This was the second straight strong game for Devin Booker after historic low shooting volume for him at the beginning of the week suggested he was dealing with some problems, perhaps his right knee. He ended up with 24 points (10-of-21), three rebounds, six assists, a steal and one turnover in 38 minutes.
Kevin Durant was 8-of-15 for 21 points, plus nine rebounds, eight assists and six turnovers. Bradley Beal also had 19 points (7-of-10), three rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers in 29 minutes. Beal was hobbled at one point in the game and after initially checking in for the game’s finish, he was pulled for Collin Gillespie to get a few minutes late.
Grayson Allen made a few key hustle plays for 17 points and this was another good game for Plumlee (13 points), who has been better over this last pocket of fixtures.
Marshall produced a career-high 34 points to go with nine rebounds, 10 assists and two steals in 41 minutes. He’s had a good year after getting paid and will be a critical supplementary piece for Dallas next season when its back to full strength. Thompson added 26 points (8-for-20) and easily could have caught fire in a vintage showing with the jumpers he was able to get off. Those days, however, appear far past him at this stage of his career.
Phoenix, Portland and San Antonio will find out in two weeks time if the Mavericks will be joining them in this race for the last play-in spot. The Spurs themselves have their own version of this game twice, hosting Dallas on Monday and Wednesday. Assuming they take care of business, the following four games after that for Dallas are against Houston, Philadelphia, Indiana and Detroit. Is Dallas on the outside looking in by then? It’s very likely.
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