The Dallas Mavericks have inflicted a defeat on Utah Jazz for the first time after nine wins in a row. In the 111: 103 success, the Mavs do not allow much defensively and burn a triple fireworks on the other side. Luka Doncic receives strong support from many quarters.
Dallas Mavericks (28-21) – Utah Jazz (38-12) 111:103 (BOXSCORE)
Led by the strong Doncic, Dallas sank 23/49 threes (46.9 percent) and thus almost twice as many triples than the long and completely cold Jazz (12/44, 27.3 percent). In addition to the Slovenian himself, who was once again the best man on the floor with 31 points (11/26 FG, 6/11 threesome), 9 rebounds and 8 assists, the supporting cast also delivered the Mavs off.
This was primarily true for Dorian Finney-Smith, who set a new personal high for the season with 23 points. The forward sank 5 of his 12 attempts from a distance. Jalen Brunson contributed 20 points from the bench, Josh Richardson came in on 17 points (5/5 threes) and Tim Hardaway Jr. on 16. Maxi Kleber remained pale offensively with 0 points (0/2 FG) and 5 rebounds, but showed good defense.
In general, Dallas made jazz life very difficult. Utah had been looking for the rhythm for a long time, especially Donovan Mitchell (16, 6/23 FG and 0/8 threesome) caught a used evening. The best man among the guests was Mike Conley with 28 points and 7 assists. Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson each added 16 points, Rudy Gobert came up with a double-double (14 and 15 rebounds).
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle was able to fall back on Kleber and Richardson in his starting five, who had to pause in the previous game against Washington. But Kristaps Porzingis was missing again, who could possibly miss several games with problems on his wrist. Nicolo Melli started again for him.
Strong Mavs defense keeps jazz at bay
In the opening minutes, both defenses gave each other little to nothing. It wasn’t until the end of the first quarter that the scoring increased when the Mavs ran hot with multiple threes in a row. Brunson, Finney-Smith and a deep triple by Doncic gave the Texans a small lead (+7), but Conley held on with 13 points and made things even out (27:25 Mavs).
Thanks to the strong bench around Brunson, the Mavericks easily retained the upper hand at the beginning of the second quarter when Doncic received an extensive break. The home side also benefited from unfamiliar jazz weaknesses from a distance, Utah sometimes left open attempts and only scored 4/23 threes (17.4 percent) in the first half, especially Mitchell (4 points, 2/13 FG) started the game coldly. Still, Dallas only went into halftime with a 50:42 lead.
The shooting problems at Jazz continued even after the break, and the guests made unnecessary mistakes towards the end of the section. Dallas took advantage of this mercilessly, especially in the person of Doncic, who put on 16 counters in the third section.
Buzzer beater! Mavs are taking control
At the same time, Hardaway Jr. was running hot, thanks to a sequence with a THJ threesome, a Luka stepback and an and-one from the 29-year-old, the Mavs pulled away a few minutes before the end of the quarter. Another throw from distance by Doncic, followed by one Downtown Buzzer-Beater by Hardaway Jr. finally put on 87:69 for Dallas – the highest lead of the game.
In the final section, both offenses initially took command. Utah finally scored a high percentage – but couldn’t stop the Mavs on the other side either. Finney-Smith used the free space that resulted from the constant sinking of his direct opponent Gobert, ice cold and responded to several jazz triples with two of their own threesomes in a row.
The Jazz did not come closer than up to ten points in the final minutes. Doncic got the dagger, from downtown, of course. His stepback threesome brought the Mavs back to 15 points a good two and a half minutes before the end. After that, Dallas didn’t let anything burn.
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