'It's not Game 6': Jazz taking the positive route after Game 2 defeat

DALLAS — The similarities were all too easy to spot.

Perimeter defenders standing still as guys blow by them? Check. A middling player going off from the 3-point line? Check. An opportunity for a playoff win ending in a stunning loss? Check and check.

Yep, Utah's Game 2 loss on Monday brought back some horrid memories of last season's Game 6 defeat to the LA Clippers.

The good news: It wasn't season-ending.

And, because of that, the Utah Jazz left Dallas with — if not a spring in their step — at least a skip.

"We tried to go out there and take both, but it didn't happen," said Donovan Mitchell, who scored 66 points over the first two games of the series. "We are not going to overreact. We've gotta go home and we've got to take care of business — simple as that."

But is it all that simple?

In a vacuum, splitting the first two games of a series and stealing home court is a success. But with Dallas superstar Luka Doncic sitting out, Monday's Game 2 provided Utah a chance to take full control over a series — and maybe even gave them a chance to end it before Doncic could ever get back.

Utah had become such heavy favorites that some places in Las Vegas had labeled a series sweep as the most likely outcome.

Now, the perception changes. The Mavericks, who said they were confident based on how close they kept Game 1, go to Utah with the knowledge they can do more than just compete with the Jazz without their all-world star; they can beat them. And they give Doncic a little more time to get back.

What happens if Doncic returns for Game 3 or Game 4 or Game 5? That would make it a different series.

The Jazz, though, are seeing the positives in their situation.

"The good thing is it's Game 2, not Game 6 with the series on the line," Rudy Gobert said. "So a lot of time to watch film and adjust."

Some of the adjustments are obvious — and mostly resort to what Utah did well in Game 1. If the Jazz can put a little more resistance at the point of attack and rotate quicker to shooters, Dallas doesn't get the same open shots.

Now, can they actually do that? A fair question, but the Jazz are confident that won't be a season-ending issue like it was a year ago.

"I had a bad ankle and Mike (Conley) had a bad hamstring," Mitchell said about last season. "So they were supposed to beat us off the dribble. Now it's something we can fix. I'm hopeful; I'm looking at it like, OK, last year was last year, but this year, we can go back and fix that.

"We can go ahead and stand our ground, shift and help each other as a team. So I don't really look at it as, 'Oh man, here we go again, the same thing as last year.'"

Jazz coach Quin Snyder said he doesn't want his team to turn away from the things that they did wrong — there was a lot of poor defense on the perimeter, bad rotations, and poor communication — but he also pointed out that even with the Mavericks playing a whale of a game, offensively, the Jazz were a couple possession away from being up 2-0 in the series.

Dallas shot 47% on 47 3-point attempts, Jalen Brunson had 41 points, and Dallas had just three turnovers in the entire game — a combination that could be hard to duplicate.

"You don't run from the things that you feel like you need to do better, but I think there's also the flip side of that: You don't hang your head when you play against a team that played very well tonight and the game goes down to the wire," Snyder said.

Now after two games, it looks like the series may be heading that way, too, especially if Dallas' victory Monday clears a path for Doncic to return.

"I mean, it's good. It's a long series," Gobert said of splitting the games in Dallas. "Two would have been great, but one is good. It's about how we are going to adjust, how we are gonna get better from there. It's a marathon, as long as we keep the right mindset and keep getting better from game to game, we'll be in good shape."

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