Mavs vs. Jazz Game 3: Can Dinwiddie Break Out of Shooting Slump?

With Luka Doncic nearly ready to return, the Dallas Mavericks would have a major advantage if Spencer Dinwiddie finds his touch again.

Dalton Trigg | Apr 21, 2022

When a team hits 22 3-pointers and plays great defense in a win without its best player suiting up, it’s hard to critique much heading into the following game.

The Dallas Mavericks did just that against the Utah Jazz on Monday night, tying their first-round series at 1-1 after breakout performances from Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber, who combined for 66 of Dallas’ points in the 110-104 win.

gettyimages-1240077203-594x594 — Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images

gettyimages-1392238191-594x594 — Tom Pennington/Getty Images

gettyimages-1240076862-594x594 — Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images

With that big win and Luka Doncic primed to make his return to action in either Game 3 or 4 in Utah (he was upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Wednesday), all the momentum seems to be with the Mavs. There are still some things that could be better for Dallas — perhaps the biggest being Spencer Dinwiddie’s shooting.

Through the first two games of the series, Dinwiddie is averaging 19.5 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Those numbers alone are fine, as the Mavs will take all the points and secondary distributing they can get until Doncic is back. The main issue has been Dinwiddie’s efficiency.

After shooting 49.8 percent from the floor, including 40.4 percent from 3-point range, in 23 regular-season games for the Mavs, Dinwiddie is shooting just 36.4 percent overall (12-33) and 10 percent from deep (1-10) through two playoff games against the Jazz.

Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Maxi Kleber, Dallas Mavericks — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Brunson, Dallas Mavericks, Utah Jazz — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Aside from occasionally having to guard Bojan Bogdanovic in the post, Dinwiddie has played well defensively in this series. He’s also shown the ability to drive past Rudy Gobert and finish at the rim when getting the switch on the perimeter.

Dinwiddie has been solid for the Mavs while Doncic has been absent. Perhaps Doncic’s return will result in Dinwiddie’s shooting splits getting back up to what they looked like in the regular season.

And if that happens? Well, this current Jazz iteration, led by Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, could be coming to an end.

Published Apr 21, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.