Suns vs. Mavericks: Everything you need to know about NBA playoff series Game 7

Phoenix Suns at Dallas Mavericks

Storyline: The Suns and Mavericks are on two different trajectories entering Game 7. Phoenix has everything to lose whereas Dallas has momentum coming off their 27-point blowout home win on Thursday. It was a reversal of fortune for the Suns after they beat the Mavericks at home by 30 points in Game 5 two days prior.

The defending Western Conference champion Suns posted its franchise-best 64 regular season wins, which includes their three-game sweep of Dallas before the playoffs, and the coveted No. 1 overall seed with home-court advantage.

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The Mavericks have more to gain as the undersized, underdog fourth seed who started the series down 0-2 and redeemed themselves in their three home wins in Games 3, 4, and 6, and have pushed the decisive Game 7.

This will be the Suns' second game facing elimination under Monty Williams since their Game 6 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the finals last year.

Phoenix Suns playoff schedule

Game 1: Suns 121, Mavericks 114

Game 2: Suns 129, Mavericks 109

Game 3: Mavericks 103, Suns 94

Game 4: Mavericks 111, Suns 101

Game 5: Suns 110, Mavericks 80

Game 6: Suns 86, Mavericks 113

Game 7: Mavericks at Suns, 5 pm. (TNT)

Key matchup: Devin Booker vs. Jalen Brunson

The Mavericks have been attacking Chris Paul, face-guarding him full court and seemingly tiring him out. That's caused the Suns halfcourt offense to speed up and take them out of their rhythm. But Devin Booker needs to get back in the rhythm after Game 6, in which he committed a team-high eight turnovers with his 19 points on 6-of-17 FG. That was Booker's second-worst offensive outing in the West semifinals since he shelled out 18 points on 6-of-13 FG in Game 3. Booker claimed he's "excited" for his first career Game 7, and the pressure is on like the Dallas defense for the MVP-caliber All-Star to deliver a stellar 30-point performance like he did in Game 2 (five 3s), willing this team to face Golden State in the West finals starting Wednesday. It's at home in front of the fans who he's been dedicated to throughout his seven-year career.

As for Mavericks point guard Jalen Brunson, Booker has been assigned to stopping him as Paul is at the top of the perimeter facing Doncic as Dallas' primary ballhandler. Similar to Doncic, Brunson is a slick one-on-one player who effectively uses his stop-and-go jab steps then turbos off the dribble, and gets inside on bigger defenders with his pump fakes to draw fouls to get to the free throw line. He's posting 17.8 points per game, and is a solid defender helping trap and forcing Booker into double teams on drives as he tries to dribble towards his 15- to- 18-foot pull-up sweet spot.

Hot topics

— Will Chris Paul return to form and carry the Suns in Game 6 like he did in Games 1 and 2? He's registered 18 turnovers and just 14 field goals over the past four games in this series.

— Will the Suns return to defending Luka Doncic in a box-and-one scheme on him in isolation plays and stifle his kick-out passes off penetration to prevent them from draining 3s? (In Games 1 and 2, Doncic had 45 and 35 points, and the Mavericks' four other starters combined for 39 and 31, respectively).

By the numbers: Key stats to know

— Home teams win Game 7 of a best-of-seven series 76.8% of the time (109-33).

— Home teams are 6-0 in this series, won by a combined margin of 103 points.

— Suns hold a 4-5 all-time record in Game 7s, including a 3-2 record in such games at home.

— With its victory in Game 6, Dallas improved to 18-22 (.450) all-time in elimination games and snapped a streak of four consecutive losses in such games.

— Suns’ last Game 7 took place on May 22, 2006 in the Western Conference semifinals. Phoenix beat Los Angeles Clippers, 127-107.

— Suns won their last two Game 7s by a 25.5-point average (20-point victory on May 22, 2006 over Clippers, and a 31-point win over the L.A. Lakers on May 6, 2006).

— Suns haven't taken care of the ball well this series, averaging 16 turnovers per game. Their worst was 22 on Thursday, from which Dallas capitalized on scoring 29 points.

— Suns scored a season-low 86 points in Game 6, which is the first time Phoenix didn't clip at least 90. Their second lowest scoring output of this season was in Game 3 when they lost, 103-94.

— Phoenix shot a playoff-low 39.7% from the field in Game 6. the The Suns are now 2-5 this season when they connect at a clip lower than 40%. The haven't shot 50% or greater since Game 2.

— Paul's two steals in Game 6 on Thursday put him past Dwyane Wade for 14th on the all-time postseason steals list, as he now has 274 career playoff steals.

— If Deandre Ayton, who is shooting 64.8% FG this postseason, shoots over 65% FG in this year’s playoffs, he’ll become the first player in history to shoot 65-plus FG% in back-to-back postseasons (min. 80 FGA).

— Mavericks' 16 steals registered as their season-high and second-most in a postseason contest over the past 18 years. Dallas snatched its all-time high 19 steals from the Sacramento Kings on April 24, 2004.

—In Game 6, Mavericks' 23-year-old Doncic marked his fifth career playoff game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, which ranks as the second-most all-time for a player under age 24. LeBron James' seven makes him the only player above Doncic for that plateau before reaching that age. Doncic joined Jimmy Butler, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Russell Westbrook as the fifth player to achieve that playoff stat line.

X-factor: Mikal Bridges

Bridges has to stand and deliver as the elite defender he is.

He needs to set the tone snatching steals and getting blocks like he can to make the Suns comfortably play their uptempo style in transition and get the crowd hyped. He's averaging 10.5 points, team-high 1.5 steals, 3.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds this series.

In Games 1, 2 and 5, Bridges was all over the court getting filling out the stat sheet. As the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, he'll need to shine helping plugging up his close friend Brunson, closing out on the Mavericks 3s to make them shoot over his long wingspan, and help in rotations to defend the post.

Injury report

Suns forward Dario Saric (knee) is the only person on Game 7's injury report.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns vs. Mavericks: What you need to know about Game 7