The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz 102-77 on Monday night in Dallas. The 25-point lead doesn’t do justice to Dallas’ poor win over Utah. Victory in Game 5 puts the Mavericks 3-2 in the series. Dallas can wrap up the series in Utah on Thursday.
The Mavericks were aggressive early on and their defense smothered the Jazz for much of the first half. Despite Dallas playing small, they dominated the inside in the first half. They lived on the edge and walked 10 out of 12 in the restricted zone. They also surpassed the Jazz 30-22 at the second chance point. This helped them weather early turnover issues and go 52-36 in the half. That was the lowest-scoring half of the season for the Jazz and the fewest points the Mavericks have conceded in the first half of a playoff game since 2011 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Dallas opened up the game wide in the third quarter. Luka Doncic scored 19 points dissecting the Jazz and the Mavericks have never looked back. They ran the game wire to wire, giving their starters some much-needed rest.
Doncic led all scorers with 33 points and 13 rebounds. Jalen Brunson added 24 points. Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 20 points off the bench.
Here are three things from the game:
The Jazz could shoot 3-pointers but couldn’t make them
One of the Mavericks’ goals in this series was to limit the number of 3-pointers the Jazz attempted. They instead wanted to chase Utah off the 3-point line into midrange floaters or hard shots to the rim. And it worked for four games. The Jazz were second in the league in shots from deep during the regular season, raising 40 a game. But the Mavericks knocked that out in four games, allowing the Jazz to only take 28 3-pointers per game.
In Game 5, the Jazz were able to create some looks from behind the arch. You just couldn’t meet her. Utah shot 3-of-30 with 3-pointers, the most tries they’ve had in the series but still a paltry 10%. That’s significantly less than their already poor shooting from deep this postseason. The Jazz only hit 32% of their 3-pointers coming into this game, slightly down from their 36% 3-pointer shots throughout the season. In Game 6, the Mavericks have to finish 3-point attempts again, but when they struggle with that, it’s nice to know the Jazz aren’t firing it from downtown right now.
Luka Doncic and the Mavericks figured out the offense
It was evident in Game 4 that Doncic returned through a wrench in Dallas’ offensive machine, which had won two games in a row. That’s usually the case when a busy player like Doncic misses time and then returns. Everyone adjusts to a more involved role for a few games and then has to return to their more restricted positions once things return to normal. We saw that in the first half of Game 4, but the Mavericks started figuring things out in the second half. They just couldn’t get things moving in time to pull out the win.
This was not the case in Game 5. The Mavericks initially stumbled a bit and struggled with turnovers. But after they cleaned up their stuff, they found a rhythm and started making some space between themselves and the jazz. By the third quarter everyone was locked in and executing the offense perfectly. Watch Doncic dance his way to the basket here:
This is a perfect execution of Doncic and Dwight Powell’s pick and roll along with a Reggie Bullock back pick to fully release the color. The Mavericks played clean from the second quarter. More importantly, Doncic and Jalen Brunson found some give and take while running the offense. They struggled to find a rhythm in Game 4. Tonight they looked more like the regular season and that’s bad news for Utah.
In the above play, Brunson’s moves and shooting skills make Royce O’Neal just about late enough to help in the alley. It’s an example of how Brunson’s performance in the series prevents Utah from fully focusing on Doncic on every drive down. The Jazz don’t have the perimeter defensive players to stop the Mavericks’ two playmakers on guard and are unlikely to find a solution until Game 6.
The Mavericks stayed small and overtook the Jazz
The Mavericks will inevitably have to play small as they don’t have a traditional great in the roster alongside Boban Marjanovic. They go with a rotation of Powell and Maxi Kleber and even played center Dorian Finney-Smith and Davis Bertans for short stretches. Early in the series, this allowed the Jazz to dominate the glass and earn plenty of second chance points.
Not tonight. The Mavericks overtook the Jazz 49-40 and surpassed them 14-8 on second chance points. They snagged more offensive rebounds than Utah, 11-7. Doncic passed Gobert 13 to 11. It was a gritty, tough effort from a Mavericks team that’s showing more and more they can win rock fight games.
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