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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
PHOENIX (AP) -- Just how good can Shawn Marion be?
|  | | Shawn Marion of the Suns, right, had four steals to go with five blocks and 19 rebounds. |
"The sky's the limit," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said.
Considering the way the 6-foot-7 second-year forward can jump,
even the sky will have trouble containing him.
Marion had 19 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, five blocked shots and four steals Wednesday night as the Suns, off to their second-best start ever, won their seventh in a row, 99-78 over the Dallas Mavericks.
"Right now he's the best small forward in the West," the Suns'
Mario Elie said. "Right now he's an All-Star to me."
The Suns' 7-1 start is their best since they began the 1980-81
season 11-1.
Rodney Rogers scored 19 for Phoenix. Jason Kidd had 15 points
and nine assists despite foul trouble. Tony Delk added 17 points
and Cliff Robinson 10.
The news wasn't all good for the Suns. Starting center Chris Dudley sprained his left ankle 3½ minutes into the game and is expected to be out at least three weeks.
Marion had a series of spectacular plays. The most impressive
came late in the third quarter when he soared to catch a half-court
pass from Kidd that looked headed out of bounds, then went back up
and dunked it.
"I thought he would get his hand on it. I didn't know if he
would catch it," Kidd said. "He said he would have dunked it on
the catch but he stopped. If he would have done that I would have
had to call timeout just to calm down."
Marion also had a breakaway tomahawk stuff in the second
quarter.
"I just love playing basketball," he said. "I like going out
there and making everybody cheer up, everybody excited. People want
to see some fun and exciting basketball, so I give it to them a
little bit."
Averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds, Marion is no NBA surprise anymore.
"I know what's going to happen now," Skiles said. "The more
attention he gets, the more and more the other coaches are going to
be talking about how to neutralize him, and that helps everybody
else. We need other guys out there that people are focused in on
besides Jason."
Steve Nash scored 19 and Dirk Nowitski 15 for the Mavericks.
Steve Finley, who spent much of the night in foul trouble, was just
3-for-16 from the field for Dallas and scored seven points.
The Suns didn't seem to impress Mavericks coach Don Nelson.
"I didn't think they played all that great," Nelson said. "I
thought we were really poor. We didn't give the much of a reason to
play well."
The Mavericks, averaging just 10 turnovers per game going into
the contest, committed 23 against Phoenix. The Suns weren't much
better with 22. Dallas is 1-2 halfway through a six-game road trip.
"We've got to really figure out what we're trying to do out
there," Nash said. "We allowed too many offensive rebounds, had
too many defensive breakdowns. They were getting a lot of easy
baskets. We were missing easy baskets."
The Suns took control with an 8-0 run that put them up 50-42 on
Marion's 17-footer with 8:46 left in the third quarter. A 12-2
spurt gave Phoenix a 68-53 lead on Tony Delk's 3-pointer with 51
seconds left in the third.
Nash's 18-footer cut it to 77-68 with 7:40 to play, but Rogers
hit a short jumper, Marion had a rebound stuff and it was 81-68
with 6:53 to go.
Neither team led by more than five points in a sloppy first half
that featured 25 turnovers and 23 fouls.
Delk's 18-footer with 20 seconds left gave Phoenix a 42-40 lead
at the break.
Finley made just two of 10 shots and had three fouls in the
first half.
Game notes
Dallas had won four out of five against Phoenix going into
the game. ... Robinson had five of the Suns' 13 first-half
turnovers. ... Marion had 13 rebounds in each of his previous two
games. His previous career high was 14 last season. ... Phoenix was
12-for-20 from the field in the third quarter; Dallas 6-for-17. ...
Phoenix has one game left, against New York Friday, in a six-game
homestand.
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NBA Scoreboard
Dallas Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 116
Washington 109
Philadelphia 107
Cleveland 98
Indiana 92
Detroit 88
Milwaukee 84
Atlanta 74
Minnesota 92
Golden State 90
New Jersey 93
Miami 91
Phoenix 99
Dallas 78
LA Clippers 78
New York 74
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