Midway through Thursday night’s third quarter, Jalen Brunson drove to the basket, turned away from defense and threw a pass back at Spencer Dinwiddie on the edge. With just a few seconds left on the shot clock, Dinwiddie had to make a quick decision. Thanks to Donovan Mitchell, he didn’t have to think twice.
Mitchell charged at Dinwiddie and took two long strides as if throwing himself into the air for a shot. Dinwiddie saw this coming and didn’t even bother to look at the edge. Instead, he immediately put the ball on the deck and sped past a completely off-balance Mitchell for an easy layup.
No one remembers bad finishes, but if anyone wants to do a mix for YouTube, they can start with this performance from Mitchell, which was one of the worst you’ll see in a playoff game. Moments like this were all too common for Mitchell and company as the Dallas Mavericks chopped up the Utah Jazz’s full-back en route to a 126-118 Game 3 win and a 2-1 series advantage.
There are certain games where you need to do a replay and a deep dive to really understand and explain what happened on the court. In other cases, the action unfolds in such a simple and obvious way that there is nothing to do but unwind the tape. Game 3 falls into the latter category.
So let’s do just that. Now, for your amusement or disgust, depending on which team you support, present Jazz’s attempts to stay on the fringes ahead of the Mavericks. (In the interests of time and bandwidth, this is by no means complete, but you’ll get the point.)
first quarter
7:51: Brunson prompts the screen to put Mitchell on the Switch, shaking him with a spin motion for an easy bucket.
7:22: Bojan Bogdanovic met Brunson in the half-shift. Brunson pulls back for the iso and just dribbles right past him without even moving.
3:52: Dorian Finney-Smith sets a screen and then jumps to the button at the top. Jordan Clarkson flips and loses Finney-Smith to an easy backcut and dunk.
1:34: Danuel House Jr. is caught outplaying Brunson, who slices through the back door and the defense collapses, resulting in a wide-open 3-pointer for Josh Green.
second quarter
10:00 a.m. Dinwiddie calls the screen to get Clarkson on the Switch and rates him for a drive, so Gobert comes all the way to the center of the free throw line to try to dissuade him, which Green leaves wide open for 3. There wasn’t even a blow-by here, but Gobert expected one to come, which was good enough for the Mavericks.
7:39: Brunson calls the screen to get Clarkson on the counter and walks right past him to the edge with nothing but a stuttering step.
7:14: Brunson uses another screen this time to get Bogdanovic on the switch. He backs out and then dribbles past him in the hard finish for one and one.
5:18: Mike Conley tries to pick up Dinwiddie early, so Dinwiddie just spreads things out and takes an easy goodbye to earn a trip to the free-throw line.
2:02: Dinwiddie orchestrates another screen to get Clarkson on the switch, crosses it to get in the suit and it’s a wide-open 3 for Reggie Bullock.
Third quarter
10:05: Brunson asks for a high screen to try and get Mitchell on the Switch, but that’s not even necessary because O’Neale just shows him a path straight to the lane for one and one.
8:26: The Jazz refuses to pick up Dinwiddie in the semi-transition, so he gets steam and puts Rudy Gobert on a poster.
3:36: O’Neale actually does well and fights to prevent the switch, but that doesn’t matter because Brunson puts him in a blender.
3:06: Brunson tries to get Mitchell back into the Switch, but the Jazz miscommunicates, leaving Davis Bertans wide open for a practice 3.
1:03: Bogdanovic is already on Brunson, so he doesn’t need a screen. He just calmly dribbles past him, pulling the defense and creating an easy layup for Green.
fourth quarter
6:18: After the Jazz cuts to one, the Mavericks place the ball in Dinwiddie’s hands and put up a screen for him to go to Mitchell. A simple dribble and it’s an easy layup.
5:55: Same again next time. Mitchell only picks up Dinwiddie this time and the Mavericks guard goes right through him for a layup.
4:35: Conley tries to get into Brunson well over the 3-point line, but the pressure doesn’t matter. Brunson just goes left like nobody’s there and ends up on the edge.
1:56: Another high screen with Clarkson, and once again Dinwiddie cooks him up for color. Defense collapses and Finney-Smith dumps the 3 to push the lead back to double digits.
No gimmicks, no surprises. The Mavericks simply challenged the Jazz to stay in front of them at the perimeter and they couldn’t, so they lost. If the Jazz don’t get together, the same thing will happen in Game 4 on Saturday.
“I don’t think it’s a physical thing – I can guard, Royce can guard,” Mike Conley called. “We must get our feet back on track and stay ahead of our man… There is no magic scheme.”