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The Dallas Mavericks look confident ahead of their anticipated matchup against the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, Phoenix Suns. They eliminated the disappointing Utah Jazz in the first round, even winning two games without Luka Doncic on the court. 

That series made the Mavericks fans dream about the team's chances to have a deep playoff run this year, but the job will be hard for Jason Kidd's team. The Suns just got back Devin Booker and Chris Paul keeps playing at the highest level, showing his quality. 

Meanwhile, the Mavericks are getting ready to face the team with the best record in the league. They've been putting a lot of work into practice and Doncic seems to be confident in his teammates. 

According to Callie Caplan of Dallas Morning News, Doncic teamed up with Josh Green, Reggie Bullock and Dwight Powell to compete in a shooting contest, which they win. Before it even started, Doncic knew his team had a big chance of taking it all. 

“What is the point of this? We already won," Doncic reported said before hitting 31 3-pointers in a minute with Green, Bullock and Powell. 

The Mavericks finally get past the first round of the playoff since Doncic is part of the team. The Slovenian player suffered an injury but he's fine now, ready to face the dangerous Suns. 

If they make 3s as they did in practice, Dallas will have big chances to make it to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2011 when they won the championship led by a magical run by Dirk Nowitzki. Luka could emulate the German big man this year, but time will tell if he can pull it off. 

The series starts on Monday night at Footprint Center. 

This article first appeared on Fadeaway World and was syndicated with permission.

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