Pacers, Mavericks even series with clutch road wins; What’s wrong with the Suns?

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🏀 Good morning to everyone but especially …

THE DALLAS MAVERICKS AND THE INDIANA PACERS

At long last, a road team has won an NBA playoff game. Two, in fact. After the visiting Pacers evened their series at one game apiece with a 125-108 win over the Bucks, the Mavericks did the same against the Clippers in Los Angeles, 96-93.

For Dallas, it was the Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving show: they combined for 55 points in what was generally a defensive slugfest. In the key moments, it was the visitors’ defense that slugged hardest. In the fourth quarter, L.A. went 4:26 without a point while Dallas went on a 14-0 run. Kawhi Leonard returned for the Clippers but scored just 15 points.

That was in stark juxtaposition to the Pacers’ offensive explosion. Indiana scored 30+ in all four quarters behind a Pascal Siakam masterpiece (37 points, 11 rebounds, six assists). All five starters scored in double figures, and Indiana made 16 3-pointers.

You can see all of our takeaways here.

👍 Honorable mentions

😐 And not such a good morning for …

THE PHOENIX SUNS

On the final day of the regular season, the Suns scorched the Timberwolves by 19 to secure themselves a matchup with Minnesota in the first round. It was widely viewed as a big-time win for Phoenix, which won all three regular-season meetings convincingly and at long last was fully healthy entering the…