Jazz Game 2 blog: Mavericks even up series with hot 3-point shooting

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DALLAS — The Utah Jazz will try to steal their second game on the road in Game 2 (6:30 p.m. MDT) of the Western Conference first round Monday in Dallas.

The Jazz are coming off a 99-93 win in Game 1 and are now the heavy favorites to make it through to the second round. In fact, some sites down in Las Vegas claim the most-likely end to the series is a Utah sweep over the Mavericks.

Follow here for live reaction, commentary and news throughout the day.

Monday, 11:55 pm

Jalen Brunson becomes latest player to torch Jazz in playoffs

Jalen Brunson made himself a lot of money.In a league dominant by big names, Brunson's name is not one of them. Which is why what he did to the Utah Jazz Monday night was something to behold and only added to his credibility in the league.The Dallas Mavericks guard, who has been in the league for four seasons after being drafted in the second round of the 2018 NBA draft, had a career night as he led the home team to a 110-104 win over the Jazz to even up the series 1-1 in the first-round playoff matchup.Read the full story here.

Monday, 11:54 pm

Familiar script dooms Jazz in Game 2 loss to Mavs

It was a bit of gamesmanship.After Utah dominated the boards in Game 1, coach Quin Snyder politely suggested that if the Jazz were going to have a 20-rebound advantage, teams would have to think twice about going small against them.Hey, you can't fault him for trying, but Dallas coach Jason Kidd didn't heed Snyder's suggestion. The result? A tied series.The Mavericks did what just about every other team has when facing the Jazz in the playoffs: They went small and shot their way to a 110-104 win over the Jazz in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series.Read the full story here.

Monday, 09:01 pm

Mavericks 3-point shooting too much for the Jazz

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— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) April 19, 2022Check the 3-point line: The Dallas Mavericks are still shooting, and still draining them with ease.And the Utah Jazz obliged, with a red carpet rolled out for everyone and anyone that wanted to hoist up a 3-point shot. The Mavericks finished the game with 22 made 3-pointers on 46 attempts, including eight made by Maxi Kleber, to even up the series at home agains the Jazz in a 110-104 win Monday night.Jalen Brunson finished with a game-high 41 points in a dominant performance for the guard, who filled in exceptionally well for the injured Luka Doncic. Adding to the assault for the Mavericks was Kleber's 25 points — almost all of which were from deep.Donovan Mitchell finished the night with a team-high 34 points for the Jazz, but he needed more help on a night where he scored the bulk of his points in the first three quarters of the game. Bojoan Bogdanvic finished with 25 points and Jordan Clarkson added 21 points off the bench for the Jazz.With the win, the Mavericks even up the series as it now heads to Salt Lake City ... and Doncic's return possible.

Monday, 08:36 pm

Donovan Mitchell soars in for the rebound and put back

Mean 🕷 pic.twitter.com/xAzma4Z6II

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 19, 2022

Monday, 08:23 pm

Jazz have 4-point lead entering 4th

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— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) April 19, 2022In the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Jazz and Mavs were faced with similar decisions. Both Spencer Dinwiddie and Mike Conley had picked up their fourth fouls.As expected, the Jazz replaced Conley with Jordan Clarkson. The Mavs, though, were in more of a bind. With Luka Doncic out, their bench was already shallow; they simply couldn't survive to give heavy minutes to Trey Burke.So Dinwiddie, despite the foul trouble, stayed in.That helped spark a Dallas run that kept them in contact with Utah, and the team entered the fourth quarter with Utah leading 81-77.After Conley went to the bench, the Mavs ran off an 8-0 run to cut Utah's double-digit lead down to 2.Jalen Brunson scored 10 more points in the third quarter to up his total to a game-high 31 points. Donovan Mitchell, who hit a high jumper in the final seconds of the quarter, has 27 points for Utah.Dallas took the lead momentarily late in the quarter on a pair of Maxi Kleber 3-pointers, but Bojan Bogdanovic responded with an individual 6-0 run to push the Jazz out in front.

Monday, 07:39 pm

Jazz go on late run to take 7-point lead into halftime break

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— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) April 19, 2022With Mike Conley sidelined due to three first-half fouls, Donovan Mitchell took over the game — and it wasn't just as the primary ball handler. The All-Star guard took control of the second quarter and scored 12 points in the quarter to finish the half with a team-high 21 points.Mitchell hit some key shots down the stretch and helped lead Utah to a 55-48 lead at the halftime break. In the second quarter, Mitchell also scored his 1,000th point in the playoffs — crossing the mark in 35 games.Maverick point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who was held scoreless until midway through the second quarter, hit a deep 3-pointer to tie up the game with the Jazz 48-all, but the Jazz went on a 7-0 run to closeout the half and take command of the game.And while the Jazz took its largest lead of the game, it was Dallas' penchant for 3-point shots that kept the home team in the game. The Mavericks finished the half with 11 made 3-pointers on 26 shot attempts (42.3%). Conversely, the Jazz finished the half shooting 50% from 3-point range, but with only six made baskets.Backup guard Jordan Clarkson added 14 points in his 14 minutes of action.

Monday, 07:18 pm

Rudy Gobert shows why he's won 3 DPOYs

More angles of that block? You got it 🤳 pic.twitter.com/jNwgcM5Dd5

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 19, 2022

Monday, 07:09 pm

Jazz-Mavs tied after first quarter

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— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) April 19, 2022Luka who?For a brief moment, Dallas guard Jalen Brunson might have helped Mavericks fans forget about their injured All-Star. Brunson was electric in the first quarter, sending the Dallas fans into a frenzy, as he scored 15 points on a 6-for-7 shooting.The good news for the Jazz? Even with that phenomenal individual quarter, the game was still tied at 24-all after 12 minutes.Donovan Mitchell had 9 points on 4-for-8 shooting, including one of his best finishes of the season.Utah started the game with a pair of connecting plays between Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. First, Gobert found Mitchell on the run for a short floater, and then Mitchell returned the favor by setting up the big man for a dunk.

GOBERT 🚫 pic.twitter.com/ylPemAtPKs

— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 19, 2022After that, Brunson came alive, taking advantage of Utah inexplicably going under screens allowing him free looks at the rim.Utah went down as many as 7 points before closing the quarter strong to tie the game.

Monday, 07:02 pm

Donovan Mitchell with the moves

Unlikely.
But not impossible 🕷#TakeNote | @spidadmitchell pic.twitter.com/ohj2BOS4ls

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 19, 2022

Monday, 05:19 pm

Marcus Smart wins Defensive Player of the year; Rudy Gobert finishes 3rd

Rudy Gobert's quest for a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award will have to wait another season. The NBA announced Monday that Boston guard Marcus Smart has won the 2022 DPOY award. Phoenix wing Mikal Bridges finished second with Gobert coming in third."Well, first of all, congratulations to Marcus," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said when asked for his reaction ahead of Monday's Game 2. "He's a terrific defender. Not just the things that he does kind of physically on the court, but I think his tenacity and his leadership on the defensive end and someone I know our whole team, including Rudy, really, really, really respects."Asking me that question is a tough one, obviously, because there's a guy that plays on our team that was a finalist for that award, and certainly has won it before and I think will continue to be someone that every year will be in contention for that award," he continued. "But congratulations to Marcus and everything that he's done. Maybe Rudy will win defensive player of the playoffs."

Rudy Gobert finished 3rd in DPOY voting. pic.twitter.com/RJdvKyc3Li

— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) April 18, 2022

Monday, 04:59 pm

Jason Kidd rules Luka Doncic out of Game 2

Jason Kidd makes it official: Luka Doncic is out for Game 2.

— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) April 18, 2022

Monday, 02:14 pm

Rudy Gobert had a change in mindset on DPOY award

On Sunday, Rudy Gobert was named as a finalist for the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year awardFive years ago, that fact alone would have brought Gobert considerable pride. Now, after winning the award three times in the past four years, it's not as important."I try not to really think about it," Gobert said. "I saw some of the things that people were saying on Twitter and stuff like that; I can't control people's opinions. For me, I'm trying to be the best Rudy I can be and I'm gonna keep doing that."Make no mistake, Gobert still wants to win — Marcus Smart and Mikal Bridges are the other finalists — and he still thinks it's a significant achievement; he's just had a shift in mindset when it comes to the chase of individual glory.When he was a young player, he put a lot of thought into winning it, and he even traded some barbs with other award favorites. After winning a few, he said he's realized that he doesn't want an award to define him."When you're younger, you really put a lot of thought into those things, those little recognitions," Gobert said. "You think that's how you get the validation — it is in a way, Defensive Player of the Year is a huge award. It's on your mind way more than it is when you get older, and you see the bigger picture."It'd be amazing; it's always great to win it," he continued. "But I see the bigger picture, and understand that, for me, my legacy will be much more than any of those I get. My legacy won't be defined by that. It'll be who I am off the court and what I win for my team on the court. That's what I'm focused on right now."That said, his legacy as one of the premier defenders of his generation would be that much more cemented if he were to win a fourth DPOY award, matching the all-time record held by Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo.And that's something his teammates want him to achieve."Are you surprised? I'm not," Donovan Mitchell said when asked about Gobert being named a finalist. "This is something he's been doing since I got here. He's a guy that protects the rim, great defensively. I believe he's going to win it. I think we all believe that, I think he believes that, and I think the biggest thing is he's showing it."Like last game, I think that was the epitome of who he is. What did he have, one shot, two shots last game? And he was one of the most impactful players in the game."When a reporter playfully asked if Gobert had room for another award on his shelf, Gobert answered: "Yeah, I've got a little room."But after a brief pause, he altered his answer a bit: "I've got plenty of room."

Monday, 11:57 am

Luka Doncic remains doubtful for Game 2

Dallas superstar Luka Doncic remains officially doubtful for Game 2, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd told reporters following a team walkthrough on Monday morning.Kidd said Doncic is "definitely going in the right direction" on his way back from the calf strain that kept him out of Game 1, and that the team will "see how he feels before the game."Doncic has steadily upped his work load over the last week and participated in light-shooting drills on Sunday. Multiple reports have said that he isn't expected to play in Game 2.