Although Monty Williams and the Phoenix Suns maintain a 2-1 series lead over the Dallas Mavericks, it has been no cakewalk for the No. 1 seed in the West.

Luka Doncic, one of the NBA's brightest young stars, has torched the Suns thus far. He scored 45, 35 and 26 points in the first three games, respectively — a scoring average of over 35 points per game and a near-triple-double average with 10.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. Whether NBA Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Mikal Bridges shadows Doncic or they throw a less lanky, more solid defender like Jae Crowder on him, Doncic has no trouble getting to his spots and converting against the Suns.

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The effort to contain the 23-year-old star gives coaches like Williams headaches. Reporters asked Williams before Sunday's Game 4 what makes Doncic so tough to game plan against, and he was brutally honest about the situation.

“I'm not quite sure anybody has put a guy on Luka [Doncic] that's totally shut him down,” Williams said. “He knows how to pick his spots. He's got really good footwork.”

Doncic's scoring wasn't off the charts in Game 3 like it was the previous two, but the Suns' respect for him opened up the floor for others. Jalen Brunson scored 28 in the Mavericks' 103-94 win Friday night, and Williams says the Dallas spacing was a key factor in the outcome.

“The court was so spread out the other day. The 3-point shot mesmerizes all teams and you tend to get spaced out too much.” Williams said. “[Brunson's] good. We can sit here and talk about what we didn't do, like, he played well. And he brought it to us.”

While the Suns lost Game 3 and Doncic has dominated, the reigning Western Conference champions are still in a good spot. Phoenix will look to bounce back and take control of the series again on Sunday.