Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 39 points on 17-of-25 shooting to lead the surging Mavs past the struggling Suns 112-97last night in Dallas. WunderDirk got some help from Jason Terry (19 points off the bench), Jose Barea (18 points) and Erik Dampier (14 boards).

Dallas led 33-24 after the first quarter and 64-46 at the half. 64 points being of course a season high for the Mavs.

Stoudemire (AP Photo) led the Suns with 28 points but was a non-factor late in the game after picking up his 5th foul in the third quarter. Nash added 20 points and 10 assists while Shaq had only 4 points (1-for-6 from the field) and 5 rebounds. Dallas outrebounded Phoenix as well 48-35.   

“Tonight was a struggle from the start“ and never got any better. “Now, the last four or five games guys have gotten career highs, everybody’s gotten career highs” said a very frustrated Terry Porter after the game. At least the Suns should stop pretending they’re playing defense. I can’t see a way out of this mess right now.

The Suns are in a deep hole right now, much deeper than an 11-9 record would suggest. They’re struggling to find their identity, which could be understandable, but worst of all I have the feeling they’re quitting.

Today, ESPN.com NBA analyst Marc Stein wrote a great column on the current state of the “setting Suns” calling them “flat and lifeless” in his Daily Dime. Now the entire Nation can see what we already knew. “Right now, we’re in a dark place,” Nash was quoted in the same ESPN article, but at least, the great Steve is not ready to give up “Too many positive things about our squad [and] our situation to give up on it“.

Suns (11-9) lost their 4th consecutive game and 6 of their last 9. It’s the first 4-game losing streak since early 2006. A 15-game winning streak followed a couple of weeks later, who knows, but with a Saturday (7 PM) game against the Jazz coming up I wouldn’t be surprised if the losing streak continued.  

Yours truly, Steve Fan

 

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