Mavericks Overcome Rare Bad Luka Doncic Game to Beat Jazz 110-102

Doncic didn't score the ball well but Kyrie Irving stepped up when he was needed most

Oct 28, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson (31) runs back up the court after making a three point basket against the Utah Jazz during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks returned home on Monday night after losing to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, their first loss of the season. They came home to play the Utah Jazz, who were searching for their first win of the season.

Dallas rolled out their same starting lineup of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, P.J. Washington, and Daniel Gafford, while Utah started Keyontae George, Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Taylor Hendricks, and Walker Kessler.

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It was once again a slow start offensively for both sides. When Utah's head coach, Will Hardy, called timeout five minutes into the quarter, the score was just 9-5 Dallas leading, with the two sides shooting a combined 6/23. Klay Thompson hit the Mavs; first shot to take a 3-2 lead, but the Jazz were crashing the offensive glass hard, snagging five offensive boards in the first five minutes. Hardy quickly subbed in Jordan Clarkson in the first few minutes, which came with mixed results.

Spencer Dinwiddie was the first guy off the bench for Dallas, which is a surprise, considering he didn't play at all against Phoenix. Dallas got some help from Utah, with the Jazz missing their first three free throws. The Jazz would get the lead down to 13-12 before Dallas took right back off with a quick 6-0 run and would lead 21-14 by the next timeout. It featured some sloppy basketball, with some missed travel and double-dribble calls on each side, but Kyrie Irving ended the quarter with back-to-back threes to push the lead to 27-19.

The second quarter started pretty sloppy, too. A John Collins rim-rocker woke the crowd up, but Doncic responded with a lob to Gafford, who slammed it home. Doncic wasn't scoring the ball well early but was passing it well and playing solid defense. After missing his tenth shot attempt in a 1/10 start, he picked up a frustration-foul 90 feet from the basket. Despite his rough start, the Mavs were still winning 35-31 midway through the quarter.

Lively's sequence of a blocked Cody Williams shot and then finishing a lob in transition was the best of the first half, especially when he broke up a lob attempt on the other end on the next play. The rest of the quarter was still sloppy, though. A shoe change for Doncic helped him score a basket, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the team. Dallas would enter halftime with a 49-43 lead as the two teams were a combined 16/46 for the second quarter.

Dallas was playing great defense, holding the Jazz to 28.8% shooting from the field, but they were fouling too much, which allowed Utah to hang around. P.J. Washington had a great half, even if he wasn't shooting well from outside, having eight points, seven boards, three steals, and two blocks in his 18 first-half minutes.

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After shooting just 4/21 from three-point range in the first half, Dallas ran a beautiful ghost screen with Klay Thompson, who wound up wide open and made it to start the half. A couple of quick baskets by Kyrie Irving to push the lead back to double digits forced an early timeout by Will Hardy.

Both offenses ground to a halt, and that only worsened after Jazz's second-year player Taylor Hendricks slipped and suffered a gruesome lower leg injury. Trainers rushed out to cover his leg as he was stretchered off the floor, and that stopped play for a while as the Jazz recovered from that mental image of their teammate going down. Hopefully, he will recover soon, but it was a horrific injury.

The Jazz got the game back down to a one-possession lead following that injury, but a Spencer Dinwiddie corner three, his first basket of the season, helped stop the bleeding. A few minutes later, he'd hit another three to push the lead back to double digits after Utah got the lead down to two. Then he hit another three in the closing second of the quarter to push the lead to 82-70 heading into the fourth. He was HUGE in the third quarter after hardly playing in the first two games. Dallas scored 15 points in the final 3:30 of the third quarter after only scoring 18 in the 8:30 before it.

John Collins started the fourth with three straight threes to get the lead right back down to five for Utah. Kyrie Irving kept the offense afloat with some crafty finishes before some free throws by Quentin Grimes to push the lead back to 11 with about 8:30 remaining.

The lead would fluctuate between 8 and 11 for the next four minutes before Utah chipped it to six with 3:51 remaining. Doncic drew a charge after missing a fadeaway, which wiped away a would-be three by Markkanen that would've cut the lead further. Even if he wasn't scoring, Doncic was determined to make an impact on the game.

The first Doncic three-pointer of the game finally came in the final three minutes to push the lead to nine. A quick flurry of great defense and quick baskets by the Mavs pushed the lead to 13 with a little over a minute remaining, which would all but seal it. A few late baskets with Dallas' bench in cut the lead down, but Dallas would win 110-102.

Luka Doncic would finish with 15 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists while shooting just 5/22 from the floor and 1/9 from three. With Doncic struggling, Kyrie Irving stepped up, scoring 23 points on an efficient 8/14 shooting, adding in nine assists and six rebounds.

Four other Mavs would finish in double figures: Klay Thompson (18 points, 4/11 from three), P.J. Washington (12 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, two blocks), Dereck Lively II (14 points, four rebounds, and three blocks), and Spencer Dinwiddie (11 points, all in third quarter).

Dallas still struggled to hit threes, just 11/39 on the night, and taking out Doncic's 1/9 doesn't make it much better. They also fouled way too often, allowing the Jazz to shoot 29 free throws, which kept them in the game.

Utah was led in scoring by Collin Sexton, who had 23 points on 9/11 shooting. Dallas did a great job on Lauri Markkanen, who had 17 points but shot just 4/15 from the floor.

Dallas moves to 2-1 and will be playing the second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday night on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves at 6:30 p.m. CST.

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