Kyrie Irving's Clutch Play Leads Mavs to Win Against Jazz: ‘That’s Just Who He Is’

The Dallas Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz after needing to bounce-back from a disappointing loss to the Phoenix Suns.

DALLAS — With the need to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks won against the Utah Jazz with 120-116 being the final score on Tuesday night. The Mavs improved to 34-32 on the season. Meanwhile, the Jazz dropped to 31-35 overall. 

Neither team managed to create much of an advantage in the first quarter. The Jazz jmped out to a 14-6 lead early on, Luka Doncic answered back with a step-back 3 to cut to a five-point deficit with 8:31 left in the period. Neither team managed to lead by five points or more for the remainder of the quarter. 

At the 8:20 mark of the second quarter, a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from Tim Hardaway Jr. pushed the Mavs ahead 51-37. It was the largest lead they held for most of the game, but they failed to hold onto the momentum. Utah closed the half outscoring the Mavs 22-8 to tie the game up 59-59 at the break. 

The flow of the game continued to be tightly contested, for the remainder of the game. There were no shortage of lead changes in the final period with many back-and-forths from beyond the arc occurring. Against a short-handed Jazz team, it was an underwhelming performance for the Mavs. 

Irving elevated his game down the stretch for the Mavs by scoring eight consecutive points within the final four minutes of regulation. A transition 3-pointer from Irving pushed Dallas up 112-108 with 2:33 left to play. Dallas never trailed for the remainder of regulation. Irving scored more than half his point total (17) in the fourth quarter alone.

"That's just who he is; he loves the moment, he loves to win, he loves to help his team win,” coach Jason Kidd said. “As we talked about, just scoring the ball but also being able to accept the double team and get the ball to LD [Luka Doncic] or whomever the double team comes from. The trust that he has with his new teammates is very high.

“To be able to have those two playmakers, those two guys who are going to be double teamed, one of them is going to be the recipient of the ball and be able to play on a close out. We feel that's the advantage we have. I thought Kai [Kyrie Irving] has done an incredible job of being able to do that late game."

Much of the scoring was done for the Mavs by three key scoring threats. There were three players that hit the 20-point threshold: Kyrie Irving (33), Luka Doncic (29), and Tim Hardaway Jr. (24). As a team, it was a hot perimeter-shooting performance as they finished 19-45 (42.2 percent) from deep on the night.

"They were trying to get the ball out of me and Luka's hands,” Irving said of the Jazz’s defensive strategy. “It felt like we did a great job tonight of trying to beat the trap and make their bigs have multiple plays they have to guard. I think we settled in in the second half where we started trusting the ball movement and the ball ended up finding some people where we hit some timely 3s that we didn't hit in the first half.

“It's winning time really. I've been saying that in my career. That fourth quarter, specifically at my age now, it's the difference between winning ballgames and losing them.“

Lauri Markkanen set the tone for the Jazz with 33 points and six rebounds. Utah received an impressive 21 points, six rebounds, and four assists from Talen Horton-Tucker. There wasn't enough support to achieve a victory with no shortage of key players sidelined for this game.

The Mavs have a quick turnaround before returning to action as they play the New Orleans Pelicans on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday. 

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