Win Or Go Home: Mavs vs. Suns Game 7 Preview, Odds

The Dallas Mavericks are one win away from reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 2011 NBA Championship season.

The Dallas Mavericks are one win away from reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 2011 championship season. The odds are stacked against the Mavs in the winner-take-all Game 7 vs. the Suns on Sunday night; Home teams win Game 7 of a best-of-seven series 76.8 percent of the time (109-33).

The home team has also taken each of the first six games of the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals and during the regular season the Suns compiled the NBA’s best home record at 32-9.

A chance to upset the defending West champion Suns, who produced the NBA’s best regular season record of 64-18 in the hostile environment at Footprint Center? Luka Doncic might be facing the biggest challenge of his career... and opportunity to further cement his stardom.

The Slovenian star shows up when it matters most. Doncic is averaging 39 points per game in postseason elimination games, which is the highest in NBA history during postseason elimination games.

LUKA MAGIC: Doncic (32.5 ppg) owns the second-highest career scoring average in playoff history, just behind Michael Jordan (33.4 ppg). 

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Cooper Neill/NBAE via Getty Images

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

RECORDS: DALLAS MAVERICKS (3-3) at PHOENIX SUNS (3-3)

WHEN: Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. CT

LOCATION: Footprint Center (Phoenix, AZ)

TV/RADIO: TNT, BSSW, 97.1 The Eagle (KEGL)

DALLAS INJURY REPORT: Tim Hardaway Jr. (left foot surgery) is out.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Luka Doncic

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Luka Doncic

ODDS: The Mavs are currently 6.5-point underdogs to the Suns.

NEXT: The winner of Game 7 will face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday. 

LAST WORD: “I like when people trash talk me. It gets me going. It’s fun. It’s basketball," said Doncic, who did his fair share of trash talking as the Mavs dominated the Suns in Game 6. "There is going to be a lot of trash talk. I like it. It’s fun for me. It’s competitive basketball and I like it.”