Mavericks Comeback Bid Falls Short, Lose to Jazz in Preseason

The Mavericks were down by as many as 20 points but couldn't fight all the way back

Oct 7, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy (1) walks off the court after the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks entered Thursday night's matchup against the Utah Jazz looking to pick up their first win of the preseason. They lost on Monday night to the Grizzlies but had some extra reinforcements with them this time, as Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving suited up for the first time.

Luka Doncic, P.J. Washington, and other Mavs were still unavailable as they nursed various injuries, which left Dallas starting Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Thompson, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and Dereck Lively II, while Utah started Keyontae George, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Taylor Hendrick, and Walker Kessler. This was Utah's third preseason game of the year, winning their first two.

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It was an ugly start offensively for the Mavs, as they missed their first five shots before Olivier-Maxence Prosper got them on the board following a second-chance opportunity. By the first media timeout, it was tied at 6, with the teams a combined 5/21 from the floor. Thompson missed his first few shots but had a nice shot fake to open the easy assist to Dereck Lively II for a dunk.

Despite the defense working early, Dallas came out of that timeout in a zone, which may be a sign of things to come in the regular season. Much has been made of their defense replacing Derrick Jones Jr. with Thompson, who isn't as good of a defender as he used to be, and a zone may be a good way to combat that.

Both teams started to wake up, with Utah hitting three straight threes out of the timeout to take a small lead, but Kyrie Irving also got the shot falling to keep the Mavericks in it. A Daniel Gafford dunk in transition forced a timeout by Utah's Will Hardy with a few minutes remaining in the quarter, with the game tied at 17. Thompson finally got on the board with a free throw toward the end of the quarter but missed the second attempt. A banked-in three by Utah's Isaiah Collier and some free throws by Jordan Clarkson gave the Jazz a 24-18 lead heading into the second period.

Klay Thompson opened the second quarter with his first made basket, a three-pointer that bounced around and in. That wouldn't be enough to get Dallas going, as Utah would stretch the lead to 11 following back-to-back contested threes by Lauri Markkanen, who signed a big extension this offseason.

Kyrie Irving and Spencer Dinwiddie helped get the Mavs back within striking distance, but then the offense went cold. Dallas went scoreless for a few minutes, and in the NBA, that's enough to fall behind by a big margin. Utah went back up by 11 on a few different occasions before getting the lead up to 13 at halftime, leading 60-47. Markkanen led all scorers in the first half with 14 points, followed closely by his teammate, Jordan Clarkson, who had 13. The first half would be all we'd see of Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving. Thompson woke up toward the end of the half to finish with 10 points; he had to shake off the rust.

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Keyontae George, an exciting young player for the Jazz, hit a tough three-pointer to start the second half but then went down with an apparent non-contact knee injury as he slipped in the backcourt facing pressure from Naji Marshall. He had spilled water everywhere when he made his three, and that may have led to his slip, and he went straight to the locker room with assistance from his teammates.

That didn't stop Utah from expanding the lead to 20 midway through the third quarter. After a slow start for Lauri Markkanen, he turned it on in the second quarter and carried it over into the second half. His shot-making was opening up the offense for everyone else. Dallas was also struggling to create shots in the second half without Luka Doncic and Irving. They had sloppy passes, bad turnovers, and being too unselfish at times. There were opportunities for Mavs to take open shots and they'd try to dump it off to someone else, which would kill the possession.

Thanks to some great energy and hustle by Daniel Gafford, Dallas was able to trim the lead to 11 before the end of the period, and a free throw by Utah would give them a 92-80 lead heading into the final frame.

Utah was still playing their key players well into the fourth quarter, while Dallas started the period with a rotation of Hardy, AJ Lawson, O-Max Prosper, Dwight Powell, and Jamarion Sharp. That left Powell to guard Markkanen, which went a little bet than you might expect, even if Markkanen rimmed out on a poster dunk.

Dallas chipped the Utah lead into the single digits for the first time since the first half following some free throws by Prosper, but an and-one by Markkanen got the lead right back to 12 for the Jazz. With five minutes to go, though, Dallas got the lead down to 8 following a jumper by Jazian Gortman.

With some defensive help from Sharp, Dallas had the lead down to six with two minutes left, and a three by Prosper cut the lead to three with 26 seconds to go, and Dallas wouldn't foul until six seconds to go. Free throws by Sensabaugh would ice the game and Dallas would fall 107-102, and fall to 0-2 in the preseason.

Gafford led the Mavs in scoring with 15 points off the bench, adding in seven rebounds and three blocks. Dallas has an elite rotation of bigs with him and Lively. Irving (12 points), Jaden Hardy (12), Thompson (10), Spencer Dinwiddie (10), and O-Max Prosper (10) were all in double figures as well. Prosper had 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double.

Utah was led by Markkanen's 26 points, as they shot 11/28 from three-point range, while Dallas was just 8/28. The Mavs had 17 turnovers in this game, three each by Sharp, Irving, and Prosper, something they'll want to clean up heading into the regular season. They also gave up 15 offensive rebounds.

Dallas will be playing in the Clippers' new Intuit Dome on Monday at 9:30 p.m. CST.

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