Suns' Monty Williams Says He Kept Chris Paul on Bench Late vs. Mavs Due to PHX Rhythm

After last season's playoff collapse, Phoenix Suns got a modicum of revenge against the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday's season opener by erasing a 22-point deficit to earn a 107-105 win.

The Suns made their comeback in the fourth quarter with Chris Paul on the bench for the final seven minutes, a decision head coach Monty Williams said afterward was down to the game flow and how Cameron Payne was performing.

"I'm always open-minded in those situations," Williams told reporters. "As much as you want to have Chris out there, I know Chris wants to win. When I took him out, my plan was to get him back in there at three [minutes]. Then the game was just going in a good way and Cam was playing well, so I didn't want to take him out. I didn't think it was that big of a decision, but I guess it is because it's Chris."

Wednesday's game had very strong echoes of Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals when the Mavs cruised to a 123-90 victory on the Suns' home court.

Luka Doncic's jumper early in the third quarter gave Dallas a 67-45 lead. Dating back to Game 6 of that playoff series, the Mavericks had outscored the Suns by 82 points in just over 2.5 games at that point.

Phoenix did finish the third quarter with a 31-19 scoring advantage, cutting the deficit to just five points. Dallas got the lead back up to 15 points with 8:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.

When Payne came back into the game to give Paul a rest, the Suns went on a 23-10 closing run to earn the win. Payne only scored seven points on 3-of-7 shooting, but he was plus-15 in just 19 minutes.

Paul was really struggling to find a shooting rhythm in the game. The 12-time All-Star made just one of his six field-goal attempts and had six points in 30 minutes.

Damion Lee's jumper with 9.7 seconds left to play gave the Suns a 107-105 lead. Doncic's three-point attempt on Dallas' ensuing possession didn't fall, allowing Phoenix to hang on for the win.

Dallas head coach Jason Kidd may have disrupted his team's rhythm by keeping Christian Wood on the bench for an extended period in the fourth quarter. He exited at the same time as Chris Paul and didn't come back in until the 2:19 mark after Phoenix took a 101-100 lead.

Wood was fantastic in his Mavs debut with 25 points (4-of-7 three-point shooting) and eight rebounds in 24 minutes. Dallas scored just 43 points in the second half against Phoenix's defense.

If the Suns are going to remain a top contender in the Western Conference, they will need Paul to be the leader of their offense. Wednesday's game was a struggle for the future Hall of Famer, but Williams was able to piece things together for his team to steal a victory over a good Mavericks team.