'Stay The Course': How Mavs Bounced Back Without Doncic to Win Game 2

Remaining solid defensively along with better offensive execution allowed the Mavs to even the first-round playoff series with Utah.

After Luka Doncic suffered a left calf strain in the team's regular-season finale on Apr. 10, the objective for the start of their first-round series against the Utah Jazz became clear — buy time until the Dallas Mavericks superstar comes back.

The Mavericks stayed optimistic after their 99-93 loss to the Jazz in Game 1. Dallas executed at a high level defensively, but just couldn't score efficiently enough to be in a position to get the win. 

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Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The results from Game 1 could have been discouraging, but weren't. The Mavs were effective defensively against an elite Jazz offense.

“If anything, this should be encouraging for the fan base, in my opinion,” Dinwiddie said after Game 1. “We’re disappointed in the locker room. Give them credit. They won the game.

“But we had our chance to win it, and we just didn’t do it. Myself, it’s inexcusable in a playoff game to miss six free throws. And having their two best scorers both go for 30, basically, and still holding them under 100, there’s a lot of room for optimism.”

The Mavericks stayed principled in their defensive execution in Game 2, but understood changes were needed on offense. The result was a 110-103 win after shooting a staggering 22-47 (46.8 percent) on 3s and keeping turnovers to just three. Jalen Brunson (41) and Maxi Kleber (25) combined for 66 points.

It started with Brunson getting aggressive as a scorer straight from the opening tip, particularly as a pull-up 3-point shooter. Dallas was 0-6 on off-the-dribble 3s in Game 1, and Brunson made three of those attempts alone in the first quarter of Game 2. He finished shooting 6-10 (60.0 percent) on 3s. 

Everything opened for Brunson after establishing himself as a pull-up shooting threat. His ability to slice up on-ball defenders to get into the paint was maximized and played key role in reaching a career scoring night. 

“I was just playing how the defense was kind of giving me,” Brunson said. “Just seeing how they were defending certain things (and) just stepping in confidentially into certain shots.

“Yeah, the 5-for-5 start (from the field) is great, but I had the same mentality when I was 0-for-5 the last game or something like that. The mentality stays the same. You can’t fluctuate whenever (Doncic is) in or out.”

As the Mavericks allowed the flow of Game 2 to play out, working lineup combinations became clearer; take non-shooting threats off the floor. The Jazz went from being in a position to have an elite rim protector closing off the paint to ultimately having no help and being required to contain dribble penetration. 

Led by 8-11 shooting from 3-point range by Kleber, the Mavericks' 22 made 3s in Game 2 set a new single-game playoff franchise record. With Kleber playing the 5, the common outcome was the Jazz big man trying to make his presence felt inside while leaving a shooter open.

“Every time I was open, I just shot the ball," Kleber said. "We analyzed how they play defense and where the looks were coming from. You have to be ready to shoot and just let it fly. I didn’t really think much about it.”

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Maintaining confidence and sticking together went a long way for the Mavericks in staying the course after losing Game 1. It aligns with how the team has quickly bounced back from losses and even in-game slumps during the season.

The same focus remains as the series shifts to Salt Lake City by not getting too high on success in the same way they didn't get low on shortcomings. 

“We did what we had to do, and that was to win tonight,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Game 1 was over. There’s nothing we could do. Now we get ready for Game 3. It’s a hostile environment, and they play well at home.

“We have to stay together, and we’ve shown that because after Game 1, it’s easy to go separate ways. But we’ve been saying it all season; after bad performances, we tend to bounce back after bad performances. And there’s nothing different. Now we have to try to find a way to do what they did, and that’s win one game.”

By winning Game 2, the Mavericks bought time for Doncic to make his mid-series return. There is no guarantee that Doncic returns to the lineup in Game 3, but there's also confidence in beating the Jazz without him. 

“We know that (we need) to buy time for Luka to come back,” Dinwiddie said. “It’s not rocket science. We want to have him back as quickly and safely, and healthy as possible. But we’re also focused on winning the series regardless.

“As I said after Game 1, there’s reason for optimism, and there’s still reason for optimism.”

The ideal outcome at Utah would be to win both games, but splitting 1-1 again would restore home-court advantage heading back to Dallas.