Two teams in the NBA are on league-leading four-game winning streaks heading into Thursday's schedule. The pair face one another at American Airlines Center.
The Phoenix Suns have pulled clear of the Golden State Warriors at the top of the West, their league-best record improving to 34-9 while Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Co are .500 across their past 10 games.
But this latest Suns run has been matched by the Dallas Mavericks, who are again recovering from a slow start.
The Mavs have won 10 of their past 11 outings after a 16-18 start. In 2020-21, Dallas recovered from an early 8-13 record to take the fifth seed – the same position they again occupy.
Dallas' problems prior to these recoveries have undoubtedly been linked to Luka Doncic, their sensational superstar who has tended to end seasons in more impressive fashion than he begins them.
Doncic has been the preseason MVP favourite in consecutive years but each time showed up looking a little out of shape.
The Slovenian is not denying that, saying in December: "I had a long summer. I had the Olympics, took three weeks off and I relaxed a little bit. Maybe too much. I've just got to get back on track."
But there are signs now that Doncic is delivering as promised. Having returned from an ankle injury to feature in nine of the Mavs' past 10 games, he had a year-high 41 points last time out against the Toronto Raptors. Three of his five triple-doubles for the year have come in this period, too.
Will this improvement continue against Phoenix, though?
The Suns are 5-0 against Dallas across the past two seasons, albeit all five meetings (three last year, two this year) have come during those tricky starts for the Mavs.
Since themselves returning to contention, Phoenix have not yet played a Mavs team in their groove.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Dallas Mavericks – Kristaps Porzingis
The Suns have a wealth of talent, while Dallas too often have only had Doncic. The need for a second man to step up and help the two-time All-NBA First Team selection is evident. Porzingis is the obvious candidate.
While the Mavs struggled while Doncic was out, Porzingis has shown that he can play the role of leading man when required.
His usage rate of 28.6 per cent this year is the highest it has been since he moved to Dallas – explained by Doncic's lay-off – and the knock-on effect is an increased offensive output when the simple option of passing the ball to his team-mate is removed.
Porzingis has scored 22.8 points per game Doncic has missed this season, versus 18.6 when he has played. Even including those the pair have played together, Porzingis' offense improves from 29.8 points per 100 possessions with Doncic to 35.4 without.
Doncic's high usage (36.3 per cent, the highest in the NBA among those involved in 250 or more possessions) reduces Porzingis' role significantly at times, but Dallas need both to fire against a team like the Suns.
Phoenix Suns – Chris Paul
Nominally a point guard, Doncic is more of a point forward, hogging most of the shots himself. In truth, there are few genuine point guards remaining in the NBA. Paul is one of them.
Even at 36, Paul has started all 43 games – ranking 21st in the league for minutes (1,383) – and leads the NBA in assists (429), well clear of second-placed James Harden (390). Not since 2015-16 has he averaged this rate of 10.0 assists per game.
Given the frequency with which Paul is creating shots for team-mates, his assist-to-turnover ratio is even more impressive, ranking second with 4.38 dimes per turnover.
With Curry and the Warriors slightly on the wane, Paul could soon be in serious consideration for the MVP award. A big performance in a big game such as this one would aid his cause.
KEY BATTLE – Doncic to deliver in Ayton's absence?
The Suns will be without center Deandre Ayton, the player they selected first overall in 2018 before Doncic went two picks later.
Ayton, who has an ankle injury, was a little slower than Doncic to truly establish himself but has never struggled against the Mavs, enjoying a 10-1 record in such matchups.
Doncic missed Phoenix's first two wins against Dallas this season and has only three victories in the 11 games he has played versus the Suns.
With Ayton's role in Phoenix's recent success starting to alter the narrative around the 2018 draft, in which Doncic was quickly considered the most talented young player, the Dallas man may see this as an opportunity to send a message.
HEAD TO HEAD
This had been a closely fought rivalry until the Suns' dominance in the Ayton-Doncic years. Now, Phoenix boast a 93-74 record against the Mavs and will hope to improve that further on the road.
Dallas are a more impressive 47-36 in home games against the Suns.
Arsenal's Saka lands first Premier League Player of the Month award
Bukayo Saka has been named the Premier League's Player of the Month for the first time, scooping the prize after helping leaders Arsenal win all four of their games in the competition in March.
Saka hit three goals and added two assists in four appearances during the month as Arsenal posted wins over Everton, Bournemouth, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Only Manchester City's Erling Haaland (33) and Tottenham's Harry Kane (23) have been involved in more Premier League goals than Saka this season (22).
The 21-year-old – considered a candidate to be named player of the season – is the only player to reach double figures for both goals (12) and assists (10) in the competition this term.
Having helped Arsenal establish an eight-point lead over City as the Gunners chase their first league title since 2004, Saka also scored with a stunning long-range strike as England beat Ukraine 2-0 in the international break.
Saka saw off competition from Alexander Isak, Alexis Mac Allister, Tyrone Mings, Mohamed Salah and Arsenal team-mate Leandro Trossard to win the Premier League award.
He becomes the second Arsenal star to land the monthly prize this campaign, after Martin Odegaard was named the best player across November and December either side of the World Cup break.
Rybakina matches Serena Williams aces feat and follows in footsteps of Graf
Elena Rybakina moved one win away from completing the 'Sunshine Double' and did so on the back of a serving feat last achieved by Serena Williams almost seven years ago.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Rybakina battled past Jessica Pegula in the semi-finals of the Miami Open, scoring a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win to book a clash with Petra Kvitova or Sorana Cirstea in the title match.
In doing so, Rybakina set up the chance of sealing an Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back double, a feat that only four women have pulled off before: Steffi Graf (1994, 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005), Victoria Azarenka (2016) and Iga Swiatek (2022).
She also becomes just the sixth woman to appear in the finals of the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami in the same year after Monica Seles (1991), Graf (1994), Lindsay Davenport (2000), Martina Hingis (2000) and Maria Sharapova (2012).
The Williams accomplishment that Rybakina has matched stands as testament to the Kazakhstani player's serving prowess.
She has served at least 10 aces in each of her five matches in Miami, and Williams at Wimbledon in 2016 was the last player from the WTA Tour to serve 10-plus aces in five matches in a single tournament.
Rybakina lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final in January but has put that behind her and enjoyed a stellar March. She beat Swiatek in the Indian Wells semi-finals before toppling Sabalenka in the final, and now another chance of a trophy awaits.
Discussing the challenge of completing the hard-court US double, Rybakina said: "It's really difficult, and because of different conditions in these two weeks by the matches you could see that it's much more difficult for me here than even in Indian Wells.
"It's just the finals, still close but the same time far. The Sunshine Double, I try my best, and hopefully I can make it. I didn't expect to be in the final. I knew that it was going to be very tough from the beginning, from the first match. And it was, actually. First two matches was really tough."
She came through dicey three-setters against Anna Kalinskaya and Paula Badosa before kicking on, winning in straight sets against Elise Mertens, Martina Trevisan and Pegula.
"Actually, the whole two weeks were really tough," Rybakina said after seeing off Pegula late on Thursday. "I'm happy to be in another final."
With her runs in Indian Wells and Miami, the Russian-born 23-year-old has already won 13 main-draw matches at WTA 1000 level in 2023, matching her personal best for an entire season, achieved last year.
Judge 'where I wanted to be' after homer against free agency suitors San Francisco
Aaron Judge hit the first home run of the MLB season from his first at-bat and declared he is "where I wanted to be" – on the New York Yankees.
The reigning AL MVP was straight back at it at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day as New York beat the San Francisco Giants 5-0.
Yet Judge could have been in the visiting team on Thursday.
He was a Giants fan as a child and the subject of interest from San Francisco in free agency this offseason before returning to the Yankees.
The quirk in the schedule was not lost on Judge then as he joked ahead of the game: "I don't know who at MLB did that to me."
But afterwards, the four-time All-Star reiterated his commitment to the Yankees.
"I didn't want to go anywhere," he said. "I was pretty vocal about that from the beginning. This is where I wanted be."
That Judge should have the year's first homer was as fitting as the identity of the Yankees' Opening Day opponents. He had 62 last year, an AL record.
Just three players – Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa – have previously topped that mark in the major leagues. All three were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs during their careers; Bonds was indicted but not convicted for allegedly lying about his alleged use of steroids, McGwire admitted to using PEDs, while Sosa denied he had ever used them.
Only McGwire and Sosa have ever had back-to-back 60-homer seasons, and they are among five players to have had back-to-back 50-homer seasons.
The legendary Babe Ruth is the sole Yankee on that list, and Judge knows the scale of the task before him.
"I know very few followed up with 60. A couple I know hit 50 after that," he said. "But we'll see what happens. Maybe we can make a new list. We'll see."
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