Nothing goes right for the Mavericks who last night suffered their fifth defeat in the last six games at the home of the Jazz, one of those games you can’t lose. The game was balanced in the first half, even with Dallas without Kyrie Irving due to shoulder pain. The guard duo of the evening Luka Doncic – Quentin Grimes is working well (33 points between them at halftime) with a nice 56.4% shooting. But the Mavericks let too many balls slip away and Utah takes advantage of it to get 15 easy points (61-64).
In the second half the Jazz run away: with Lively II on the bench due to fouls, Will Hardy chooses a high quintet with Markkanen from three and Collins who puts the Texans in difficulty who only have Doncic among the assets who scores 14 of the team’s 21 points in the period (99-85). With the Slovenian on the bench Naji Marshall inspired him 0-9 which relaunched Dallas, followed by the return of Luka for another 0-12 which reopened the match. Jordan Clarkson keeps his team alive and Utah’s collapse, possible at that point, never comes.
John Collins scores +3 with a dunk, but Klay Thompson, who has just returned to the game after a long period on the bench, responds from distance to tie the game with less than 30.0″ remaining. The last two possessions will be talked about a lot, and not in a positive sense, by Luka Doncic, guilty above all of a defensive oversight by the Mavericks on John Collins unmarked behind him, then letting Naji Marshall take the last shot in the corner. The latter has not yet hit a shot 3 points this season… Delta Center can rejoice.
Utah – Dallas 115-113. Boxscore: 28 Collins, 20 Clarkson, 18 Sexton, 14 Filipowski e George, 13 Markkanen per i Jazz; 37 Doncic, 19 Marshall, 17 Thompson, 15 Grimes, 10 Gafford per i Mavericks.
