The Dallas Mavericks took a 2-1 lead Thursday night and defeated the Utah Jazz 126-118 away. Jalen Brunson again led Dallas in a masterful performance, scoring 31 points and conceding five assists. Donovan Michell scored 32 points in the loss.
The opening minutes of the third game were filled with many, many errors from both teams, with the exception of Jalen Brunson, who scored six goals early on. Maxi Kleber came off the bench to give Dallas three more three-pointers, and Josh Green hit two and helped the Mavericks hold off the Utah offense. Dallas’ spectacular defense (a car chase against Davis Bertans!) helped give the Mavericks a 27-20 lead after one quarter.
Somehow, the Mavericks extended their lead with a lineup of Spencer Dinwiddie, Josh Green, Dorian Finney-Smith, Davis Bertans and Trey Burke, moving up to a 15 lead early in the quarter. Brunson and Kleber helped keep Dallas ahead until Brunson was injured on an unannounced shot from behind by Royce O’Neal. Utah kept trying to rally, but each time there was a response, with Reggie Bullock, Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans emerging with key marks. Dallas went into halftime 68-51.
Luckily, Jalen Brunson was able to return after halftime. Utah tried to contain Dallas’ lead, but the Mavericks just kept going. Spencer Dinwiddie briefly shrugged off his shooting slump with one incredible dunk on Rudy Gobert. With Dallas down 17, Utah went small (so no Rudy Gobert) to get back in the game and slowly eroded the lead into single digits. Entering the fourth quarter, the Mavericks found themselves down to just six, 97-91.
Sloppy Basketball opened the fourth with many misses. But with no really big men (Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber had five fouls) on the floor for either team, the rim attacks were relentless. Rudy Gobert finally came back into play and the Jazz cut Dallas’ lead to one before Spencer Dinwiddie delivered two driving layups. After a Jazz hiatus, Jalen Brunson went on a torturous tour and extended Dallas’ lead to 9. Every time Utah scored, Dallas responded; both Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie late with huge threesomes. The Jazz didn’t have time to make a comeback and the Dallas Mavericks took a 2-1 lead over Utah and won 126-118
Now some thoughts:
You had to see to believe it, but the much (and quite) maligned bench boys made it big in a street game against Utah of all places. Josh Green went berserk, eventually finishing with a three and that helped give him the confidence to hit a few more. He finished the game with 12 points, three boards and six assists as he was a key ball mover in the first half when the Maverick coaching staff used him in a way the Jazz had never seen before. Davis Bertans also responded with 15 points on 4 of 7 three-pointers. Then of course we have Maxi Kleber, who was red-hot once again out of three, scored four out of five and just played outstandingly defensively.
With the one exception of Jalen leaving Brunson on the floor injured for too long from possession (take a time-out!), Coach Jason Kidd and his companions were in their bags. Once again, they put Jalen Brunson in a position to succeed, but as the minute totals piled up, Kidd attempted some unorthodox lineups. It is surprising that they lined up with the aforementioned cast of Spencer Dinwiddie, Josh Green, Dorian Finney-Smith, Davis Bertans and Trey Burke to begin the second. What’s even crazier is that the Mavericks managed to get even higher up AFTER Brunson was injured. Granted, you can also lean on Dallas’ shooting demeanor, but the confidence is also instilled by the coach. What an incredible game.
If there’s one thing I’m going to be wondering about for the next day and a half, it’s if the Jazz found something by taking Rudy Gobert out of the game and letting Donovan Mitchell play like Dwyane Wade from the 2006 Finals. The Jazz ended this third quarter extremely hard, but Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber were in big trouble, so maybe I’m reading too much into things.
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