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DALLAS — Bojan Bogdanovic kept the Jazz afloat in the first half, and Donovan Mitchell came alive in the third quarter.
But the biggest moment of Game 1 belonged to Royce O'Neale.
With 57 seconds left in regulation and the Jazz, once again, clinging to what was once a big lead, O'Neale faked a defender, stepped to his right and sent a sigh of relief through the entire state of Utah.
O'Neale's late 3-pointer helped secure Utah's 99-93 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series at American Airlines Center. Game 2 is Monday in Dallas.
And maybe the Jazz exorcized some demons in the process. Yes, the Jazz had a double-digit lead in the second half; and, yes, the Mavericks came back.
Despite a 20-point first-half performance from Bogdanovic and a 19-point third quarter from Mitchell, Utah's 12-point lead was down to 1 as the game entered the final minute.
A hero came in from an unlikely source.
Mitchell swung the ball to O'Neale on the wing with the shot clock winding down, and O'Neale did the rest. His ball fake caused Spencer Dinwiddie to jump up, and then O'Neale dribbled to his right and knocked down a game-saving 3. The big shot ended a 16-6 run by the Mavericks and allowed the Jazz to hang on at the end.
O'Neale finished 1 of 5 for 3 points. He picked a heckuva time to start scoring.
"That same shot, fake slide, I've seen it a thousand times," Mitchell said.
A thousand times on the practice courts maybe, but in front of 20,000 raucous fans in the final minute of a playoff game? Well, that was a first.
"I thought it was good," Gobert said of the shot. "... It's an easy shot for him. When the ball moves and ends up in the guys that's open, usually good things happen."
That might have been what the biggest difference was on Saturday; the Jazz worked off each other. Instead of differing to a Mitchell-led isolation-heavy attack late in the game, Utah spread it around.
Both Bogdanovic and Mitchell had dominant stretches and the Jazz used that to their advantage. Some late possessions ran through Bogdanovic in the post, some began with Mitchell controlling things, and others featured Mike Conley. Now, that didn't mean they always worked, but it did mean that the Mavs' comeback felt different than the other ones Utah had given up this season.
It was mostly a result of Utah over fouling and missed shots than the Jazz crumbling down the stretch.
"I was just happy to win the game," Gobert said. "I thought we executed; they had a lot of free throws and we kept focus and we kept our heads and we kept trusting each other and we did a good job of being less predictable and moving the ball. We ended up with Bojan making plays, Mike, Don, Royce, I liked the way we executed."
As he ran back after his big shot, O'Neale turned to the Dallas crowd and shushed them with a finger to his lips. He didn't need to tell anyone, though, the shot had already silenced the Maverick fans that had spent the first 47 minutes of the game hoping their team could do the improbable.
No matter how it happened, a win for the Jazz on Saturday was going to come with an asterisk: Luka Doncic didn't play. That also made Game 1 feel a bit like a must-win contest for Utah. If the Jazz couldn't beat a Luka-less Mavericks, how would they handle them at full strength?
And early on it looked a bit bleak.
The Mavs nearly jumped out to a double-digit lead early in the game behind Dinwiddie and Jalen Brunson. Dallas kept the Jazz from open looks on the perimeter, and Utah struggled to finish at the rim.
Bogdanovic, though, kept Utah afloat. He scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half to keep the Jazz in contact after Mitchell struggled to a 2-point half.
"Big time," Mitchell said of his Bogdanovic's performance. "I didn't partially have it going. We were just feeding him. Feed the hot hand. Make it simple.
Mitchell got it going in the second half.
With an array of aggressive drives to the hoop, Mitchell came alive after halftime. He scored 19 points in the third quarter and had 30 of his 32 in the second half to push Utah's lead to double-digits.
But as Jazz fans know all too well, that's been the danger zone for this team.
"There were times that our mental toughness was challenged and we really responded," Snyder said of his team's response late.
And no one more than O'Neale. The Utah small forward shot 29% from 3-point range in the final 16 games of the regular season. None of that mattered on that final shot.
"The same exact shot is the one he's been working on since the summer," Mitchell said. "He prepared for moments like that, and the trust is always gonna be there. I think it was big for him but more importantly for us. We are going to trust each other."
