Jazz Stars Will Team to Win Over the Mavericks, 112-107

Utah’s stars came up big against Dallas (Melissa Majchrzak via espn.com)

In a short two minute span on Saturday afternoon, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell gave the indisputable evidence of their All-Stardom to clinch a win over a Western Conference playoff rival, 112-107.

The win over the playoff-bound Dallas Mavericks and MVP candidate Luka Doncic was important for the Jazz. Not only is it a rival for playoff positioning where tiebreakers really matter, but it comes after a long string of games against bad teams. The Jazz had won 18 of 20 games heading into their matinee with the Mavs, but the legitimacy of their streak had been questioned due to opponent strength. This helps prove they are real.

Mitchell, who had struggled with his shot on a 9-for-25 night, brought the ball up with the Jazz trailing by a point in the final minute. Mitchell split the hedging defenders on a pick, then reached the paint and drew help. He kicked it to the left corner where Royce O’Neale waited, already in a shooting stance. With 37.5 seconds left, about a minute after Mitchell had converted his own triple, O’Neale drained the three and Utah took a 109-107 lead. 

On the very next play, the Jazz raced back as Dallas attacked without a timeout. Doncic trailed right, forcing Gobert to help off of Delon Wright. When the ball zipped back to Wright, the former Ute guard attacked the open paint. Gobert appeared hopelessly behind him, but somehow that long 9-foot-7 wingspan reached over and swatted Wright’s tying attempt off the glass. With just 24 seconds left, he Jazz win was all but in the bag.

In addition to the game-winning plays by Gobert and Mitchell, the Jazz clamped down on the league-leading and historically great offense of the Dallas Mavericks. The start was not so impressive. The Jazz, who boast a top 10 defense (but 8th best defense seems paltry in comparison to the 1st or 2nd ranked defense of past seasons), let the Mavericks offense cruise to a 36-point first quarter and an 11-point lead. From the point on, the clamps came out and the top offense was held to 22, 26, and 23 points. 

The win didn’t come as easy as just clamping down on the D, however. The Jazz only led at one point during the second quarter, and only by a single point. They finally took the lead again late in the fourth.

Despite holding off the barrage that we saw in the first quarter, the Jazz still had a hole to climb out and the Mavs didn’t make it easy. Sure, the Jazz outscored them in the second and fourth quarters, but the Mavs seemed to be able to score exactly when they needed it. Seth Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, and Tim Hardaway Jr. all knocked down multiple threes and often in crucial moments to hold off the Utah rally.

Doncic struggled from three, going 2-for-10, but he still did Luka things and found the cutter or the open corner for seven assists and somehow put up 25 points (the kid is insanely good and I marvel every time I watch him).

Star players give teams a higher gear

The Jazz defense that picked it up for three quarters was certainly key and it let the Jazz stay in striking distance. But it was the extra oomph from the two stars in Rudy and Donovan who gave the Jazz the extra clutch-time gear that was needed to finally overcome the deficit and put the game on ice. The Gobert block, the Mitchell three and dish, and an O’Neale strip (with Joe Ingles’ help!) against Luka all came within the game’s final two minutes. 

This final sequence, and countless other clutch-time wins the Jazz have pulled out this year often with Donovan daggers or Rudy swats/boards/tips/dunks/etc., are exactly why these two players are stars and give the Jazz that higher gear that wouldn’t be possible without them. And frankly, it’s a level we only saw glimpses of from Mitchell in his first two seasons. We all watched Donovan struggle in the clutch just as often as he succeeded. But that off-season work, and maybe with the help of some sweet jazzy tunes¹, has paid off. And the Jazz are reaping the rewards. 

The Jazz next take on the Houston Rockets, another important conference match-up, on Monday night. Just like the Pacers last Monday, the Rockets come to Utah to close out the deadliest back-to-back sequence in the NBA, as they’ll visit Denver on Sunday followed by Utah.