Mavericks, minus Luka Doncic, hold off skidding Suns

Kyrie Irving made five 3-pointers and scored 20 points as the Dallas Mavericks notched a 98-89 victory over the host Phoenix Suns on Friday night while playing without injured Luka Doncic.

Daniel Gafford tallied 16 points, Maxi Kleber had 15 points and seven rebounds and Spencer Dinwiddie also scored 15 points as Dallas won for the 15th time in 19 games. Klay Thompson added 11 points, six rebounds and five assists as the Mavericks opened a four-game road trip with a victory.

Doncic will miss at least a month after sustaining a left calf strain during a Christmas Day game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Mavericks are 7-2 this season without the five-time All-Star.

Kevin Durant scored 35 points for the Suns, who lost for the fourth time in the past five games. Royce O'Neale had 14 points off the bench and Bradley Beal had 11 on 5-of-18 shooting for Phoenix.

Suns star Devin Booker (left groin strain) missed his fourth straight game and teammate Grayson Allen (concussion) sat out his third consecutive contest.

Phoenix shot 38.6 percent from the field, including 13 of 35 from 3-point range.

Dallas made 43.8 percent of its shots and was 12-of-34 from behind the arc. Irving finished 6-of-21 from the field after making his first four shots.

Dallas also played without Dereck Lively II (left hip).

Early in the third quarter, Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington of the Mavericks and Jusuf Nurkic of the Suns were ejected after a brief altercation.

Nurkic and Marshall exchanged punches and Washington then shoved Nurkic to the floor with 9:02 left in the period.

Later in the quarter, Irving scored five points during an 8-0 run to give Dallas a 70-52 advantage with 3:45 left.

Phoenix answered with a 12-2 surge to trail 72-64 entering the final stanza.

O'Neale's trey brought the Suns within 81-75 with 6:32 to play before Dallas rattled off nine straight to take a 15-point lead.

After Phoenix later crept within eight, Gafford slammed home two dunks in an eight-second span to make it 96-84 with 1:11 remaining and the Mavericks closed it out.

Irving had 12 points on four first-quarter treys as Dallas led 28-25.

The Mavericks later scored the final seven points of the half, including a basket by Marshall with 5.1 seconds remaining, to hold a 55-39 lead at the break.

Irving had 15 at halftime for Dallas, while Durant had 13 in the half for the Suns.

--Field Level Media