Suns Change Starting Lineup vs Mavericks

PHOENIX — In their regular season home finale, the Phoenix Suns are hoping to get back in the win column against the Dallas Mavericks.

After Phoenix dropped last night's big matchup against the Houston Rockets, the Suns are needing a boost of energy on the second night of a back-to-back.

Suns head coach Jordan Ott is banking on this starting five on Wednesday:

Suns Starting Lineup vs Mavericks

• Devin Booker
• Jalen Green
• Jordan Goodwin
• Dillon Brooks
• Khaman Maluach

All of Mark Williams, Haywood Highsmith and Grayson Allen are out tonight for Phoenix.

Opening tip is slated for 7:00 PM AZ time.

The Suns will have to juggle plenty of factors tonight against Dallas, though none may be bigger than the presence of Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg:

"Just growth. I think anytime a young guy plays early in his career, there's going to be some peaks and valleys, and now you see him taking gigantic strides still in his first year. It's his sheer force and that's how the game seems to be transitioning," Ott said of Flagg, who is in a tight race for the NBA's Rookie of the Year award.

"Can you play in space? Can you drive through contact? Can you find a way to get into the paint time and time again? He does it, so plays bigger than his age. And then now he can add the shooting piece and the passing piece. It's going to take multiple bodies. And again, this is a type of player that we'll see later in this week, going into next week. So I think those reps, again, we have to be honest about how important these reps are, regarding these types of players."

With the playoffs out of question and play-in tournament destiny settled, the Suns are simply hoping to retain their seventh spot in the West, which would give them homecourt advantage to begin the postseason.

Phoenix is heavy favorites to emerge out of Mortgage Matchup Center with a win, as they're double-digit favorites on the spread while ESPN's basketball power index gives the Suns a 75% chance to win tonight.

Even with the close loss against the Rockets, Ott knows the energy needs to maintain itself:

“We saw it last night. The first quarter was as fun as it's gonna get in this arena. So, we’ve just got to stretch it out," Ott said.

"We’ve just got to extend it from 12 minutes to 24 to 36 to 48, we’ve just got to make it a little bit longer stretch. It's in there. We've done it for the large majority this season. We don't have to learn how we win. We know how  we win. We just have to learn it in a different way right now, and to do it as fast as possible.”