The Nets are a wild scoring machine.

The Clippers are relentless.

The Lakers are polished.

The Sixers, who last year looked constantly stuck in cement, now have that smooth grew venous feel is they currently rule the East.

But there is still plenty of teams trying to figure out exactly who and what they are, and the sons and Mavericks, well, those are two of them.

Both had high expectations going into the year.

Both have had struggles with injuries and with co vid.

But after a three day stretch in which they faced each other twice on Lee, one of them seems to have found its footing.

In fact, with last night's win, the Sons have now won three straight, pushing them to sixth in the West and only a half a game out of fourth and the game.

It wasn't pretty, but that's kind of the point.

The ability to pull through a rough outing is one of the qualities that separates out whether teams really have it or not.

And last night, Phoenix fell behind by as much as 11 before fighting its way to a thriller of a finished.

Not surprisingly, Phoenix's backbone in this game was 35 year old Chris Paul, 34 points, nine rebounds, nine assists.

It was Chris who kept his teammates focus during a tug of war fourth quarter.

And when the Sun's found themselves down by two with less than a minute on the clock, it was Chris who ran a play that his old and now once again, coach Bonnie Williams noted that he stole from CPS other old coach Doc Rivers.

Take a listen.

Either Chris Paul or Devin Booker will be involved.

Here.

It is Paul with six seconds, Paul guarded well by Cleveland.

Now Booker squares up for three over Richardson with 1.5 left.

Sons go in front.

Dallas takes a time out.

That was a brilliant, executed place.

It really was nice screen by eight in there, by the way, CP threading the past despite being guarded bike lebas, 7 ft wingspan and then Devin Booker with a clutch shot just 1.5 on the clock.

Now, technically, Booker wasn't supposed to even be in the game.

At that point, this was his first game back from a hamstring strain, and he was on a minutes restriction he had already surpassed.

Here is Williams explaining?

I imagine if I would have taken book out in the fourth, that would have been the first time you've seen a player knock a coach out on the sideline.

So I just thought I'd stay away from that scenario and let him play as long as he was looking good.

Amazing.

As for CPM Booker, the Big Brother little brother relationship the Sun's front office had hoped for when they traded for Chris seems to have fully taken root after the game.

CPI says the to have reached a point.

They can push each other without mincing words.

While Books said he's pretty much open to anything, CP tells him, You know, he's been in every situation, you know, that I want to get to, um, you know, So I I have the cheat code of being alongside of him.

His backcourt mate, Uh, you know, from on the court, off the court, just everything he does, you know, I'm a sponge to it.

I was telling the guys in the locker room.

I don't know if I could never retire because, uh, the emotional roller coaster that you go on during the game, like for real, for real, like there's no highlight that the energy, you know, pissed and mad and then Thio enjoy winning the games.

As for the Mavericks, well, their post game press conference is not nearly as chipper Dallas had failed to give before a book hit the game winner.

But Kleeb a didn't use it on Paul, the exact kind of messed up detail that has plagued Dallas in what is now a six game losing streak.

As for Don Keech, well, remember a few days ago, he said, quote, It's looking like we don't care, don't which was more positive last night, saying the Mavericks were close to climbing out of their slump, which is true.

But just like the Sun's ability to fight through adversity for a win tells you something.

The Mavericks inability to do so is also telling.

Right now, Dallas has choked up multiple leads during its losing streak.

In fact, the past 12 times the Dallas has found itself in a one score game.

It's lost all 12 times, which is not what you want.

The Mavericks are also the league's worst three point shooting team and ranked 13th in the overall West standings, not just outside the playoff picture, but outside play in game range as well.

And look, we are on Lee a little bit more than a quarter of the way through the season.

There is time for the Mavericks to get it together.

The sons could still fall apart, but we are starting to feel like we know who these teams are, and that is a much nicer feeling for one of them than the other Paul.

At this point in the season, who are the sons to you?

There are legitimate playoff team.

I'm going off what I saw from them last year in the bubble.

They added.

Chris Paul, And that's all I think this team really needed with some leadership.

Hey, developed a culture there in Phoenix.

Uh, well respected veteran who knows how to win.

And you know, this team hasn't been to the playoffs in a long time, so playoff expectations are right in front of their eyes and I think they could make it absolutely.

Paul, you are hitting it on the head, and I think we've got to give a lot of credit to James Jones, my guy from the Heat e one titles with him.

I think he had a vision from the beginning.

He brought in Monty Williams to go with Devin Booker, a guy that's gonna hold him accountable guy that's gonna run dynamic stuff for him.

And then they finished it off with Chris, Paul and Chris Paul.

We know he is the ultimate competitors.

He is e guarantee you.

This guy plays horseshoes.

He gets pissed if he lose.

So you put him together with a guy like Devin Booker and those two guys working together like Devin Booker is a smart kid.

You heard everything he said was the exact right thing you want to hear from him and those two together.

That's a playoff basketball team, and I wouldn't want to match up with them.