Mavericks drop embarrassing game to Utah Jazz, 115-113

The Dallas Mavericks went to Salt Lake City in desperate search of a win, having lost their last three games, all in clutch situations. To get a win against the Utah Jazz, they had to do without Kyrie Irving, who was a late scratch with a shoulder sprain.

Without Irving, Jason Kidd decided to really shake up the starting lineup, rolling with Luka Doncic, Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson, Maxi Kleber and Dereck Lively II. This is the first start of the season for Grimes, Kleber and Lively, with Grimes’ start coming as a bit of a surprise since he was a DNP coach’s decision just two games ago.

Utah started Collin Sexton, Keyonte George, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Filipowski and John Collins with the injuries to Taylor Hendricks and Walker Kessler.

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This new starting lineup got off to a good start defensively, with some great shooting from Luka Doncic and Quentin Grimes to open up a seven-point lead. Coach Kidd was clearly playing with lineups as the first person off the bench was Dwight Powell… at power forward. And it sort of worked, at least on defense. Powell was +7 in his first few minutes of this game without scoring, but he had two blocks and two assists in that time.

Dallas’ offense couldn’t take advantage of Utah’s start, and the Jazz began to chip away toward the end of the first quarter. Turnovers and lost bunts were a big problem as the Jazz cut the lead to 26-25 in the final two minutes left in the quarter. Dallas would lead 28-27 heading into the second, just their fourth time leading the game into the second quarter this season. It could have been a much bigger lead if they (Naji Marshall, specifically) didn’t miss a couple of floaters right at the rim.

Utah would take a 34-32 lead after back-to-back threes by Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, then a bucket by Cody Williams capped an 8-0 run. Early mistakes and bad turnovers kept Dallas in a bad position despite shooting it well from the floor and from three. For Dereck Lively to grow into a consistent starter, he can’t have three fouls in six minutes like he did in this game.

The Mavericks finally retook the lead, 47-45, after some key shots from Grimes and Klay Thompson. Of all the players who could have given the Mavericks trouble, however, it was second-round rookie Kyle Filipowski who they constantly lost on defense. In just his fourth career start, Filipowski had 13 points in the first half, allowing them to hang on as the Mavs led 64-61 going into halftime. For the work they had done to contain Lauri Markkanen, who had just four points, Filipowski made up for it.

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Lively picked up his fourth foul just 1:15 into the second half, which had to be frustrating for Jason Kidd, then his fifth a few minutes later with Daniel Gafford waiting to come in. Some of his mistakes were questionable, but Lively kept putting himself in bad positions, something he’ll learn with more experience. A three-pointer by Markkanen would give Utah the lead again, 75-73. The Jazz would hit two more threes after that to push the lead to 81-73 when Daniel Gafford left the game after slipping on a wet spot, putting the Mavs’ center rotation in a tough spot. Luka Doncic would score five straight points to pull the game back within one possession.

Before they knew it, however, the Mavericks faced a 12-point gap as the Jazz went on a 25-7 run to go up 90-78. Turnovers and fouls remained an issue against a poor Jazz team, but the Mavericks outdid themselves. They were hesitant to shoot, lacked energy and in their own heads as they faced a 99-85 deficit heading into the fourth quarter.

A basket early in the fourth quarter by Collin Sexton gave the Jazz their biggest lead of the SEASON at 16 points. Dallas would respond with a 7-0 run to cut it back to single digits, and then a Naji Marshall pull-up cut the lead to seven at 101-94. Dallas’ run was capped by a Jordan Clarkson layup as the shot clock expired to push the lead back to 10.

Kidd put Lively back in the game with his five fouls with just under eight minutes left, and the Mavericks began to mount a comeback, cutting the Jazz lead to 106-103 with just over four minutes left. Dallas had two chances to tie the game with open threes on the ensuing possession from Grimes and Marshall, but they both missed. However, Luka Doncic would tie the game at 108-108 with a long three over Filipowski.

Dallas would retake the lead with 1:33 left on a give-and-go between Doncic and Marshall that led to a lob for Lively. Jordan Clarkson would convert on an and-one for the Jazz to go back up 111-110, Jaden Hardy made an open three, then John Collins cleaned up a Jordan Clarkson miss to extend the lead to 113-110 with 36.7 seconds left.

Luka Doncic drew a double team on the next possession and he dished it up to Klay Thompson, who tied the game with 27 seconds left, but then Lively lost track of John Collins, who slammed it home with 6.5 seconds left. On the final possession, Doncic was double-teamed on a post-up, he fed it to Naji Marshall in the corner, who airballed the shot, and the Mavericks would lose their fourth straight game, all in the clutch, 115-113.

This was the Jazz’s first home win of the season as they moved to 3-8 while the Mavericks dropped to 5-7.

It was the same problems for the Mavericks, who allowed 16 offensive rebounds, turned it over 17 times and shot just 30.8% from the free throw line. They have a lot of problems to solve; some of them could be solved by getting healthy, but often they just don’t show energy.

Luka Doncic led all players with 37 points and nine assists, but he also turned it over three times. He was 4/13 from three in this game, continuing a trend of shaky shooting from deep. Naji Marshall had a couple of sloppy games in the first half but bounced back to finish with 19 points and three steals, but he also had three turnovers. Klay Thompson had 17 points and three turnovers, Quentin Grimes had 15 points (all in the first half) and Daniel Gafford had 10 points.

John Collins led the Jazz with 28 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Clarkson had 20 points, Collin Sexton had 16 points, Keyonte George and Kyle Filipowski had 14 points and Lauri Markkanen had 13 points. Dallas just wasn’t good enough defensively, especially in the third quarter, against a team that was dead last on offense going into the game.

The Mavericks return home to play the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

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