Jazz Game 3 blog: Same problems doom Utah in home loss

By Ryan Miller and Caleb Turner, KSL.com | Updated - April 21, 2022 at 9:59 p.m. | Posted - April 21, 2022 at 12:17 p.m.

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

SALT LAKE CITY — The first-round series moves to Utah for Thursday's Game 3 (7 p.m. MDT, NBA TV/ AT&T SportsNet) with the Jazz and Dallas Mavericks tied up 1-1.

The Jazz have some questions to answer after succumbing to a similar script in Game 2's 110-104 loss; and the Mavericks might just have Luka Doncic back.

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

Friday, 01:23 am

Jazz booed by own fans in Game 3; it wasn't hard to see why

Vivint Arena was filled with boos.It wasn't for the Dallas Mavericks, and it wasn't for the refs (OK, maybe a little). It was for the team wearing the black with sunset trim heading into the home locker room of Utah's 126-118 loss in Game 3 to Dallas.The fans sent their beloved Utah Jazz to the locker room with boos and jeers."It's part of the game," Donovan Mitchell said. "And we weren't playing well."Read the full story here

Friday, 12:33 am

After Game 3 loss, Jazz searching for moral victories

The Utah Jazz will always have the end of the third quarter.That's when a small-ball spark of energy ran through the Jazz and gave their fans hope of a comeback. By the end, though, the Jazz left the Vivint Arena court to the same thing that followed them into halftime: a chorus of boos.Outside of a few minutes during a late stretch in the third quarter, the Jazz no-showed Thursday in what might be one of the more pivotal games of this era of the franchise. Dallas walked into Salt Lake City and beat the Jazz 126-118 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.Read the full story here

Friday, 12:03 am

Jalen Brunson proving he's 'that dude' against Jazz

Jalen Brunson is making $1.8 million this season. That's less than 12 players on the Mavericks' roster.He sure looked worth a whole lot more than that on Thursday night in Salt Lake City, and likely earned himself a substantial pay raise with a 31-point outing in the 126-118 win in Game 3 of the Western Conference playoffs.Fresh off of a 41-point performance in Game 2 in Dallas, Brunson came out confident and in control to start the first game of the series in Utah.He put up a game-high 15 points in the first half and seemed to be getting whatever he wanted on offense, much to the dismay of the amped up and hostile crowd at Vivint Arena. He briefly left the game at the end of the first half after taking an elbow to the lower back from Royce O'Neale, but returned to the court after halftime and maintained his high level of play — he even surpassed it with 16 second-half points.Read the full story here

Thursday, 09:54 pm

Jazz run out of gas in the 4th quarter

The momentum from a 40-point third quarter did not carry over to the final period for the Jazz. The team put up just 27 points in an underwhelming closing effort to open the two-game homestand. Utah now trails Dallas 2-1 in the series after the 126-118 loss heading into Game 4 on Saturday in Salt Lake City.The strong play from the Jalen Brunson-Spencer Dinwidde backcourt continued as the Mavericks closed out the Jazz on the road without their closer Luka Doncic. Brunson finished with 31 points and an array of impressive footwork displays as he dissected the Jazz defense time and time again down the stretch, looking more like a seasoned star than the backup point guard he started the season as.Utah briefly brought it within one, 103-102, midway through the fourth quarter on a Mike Conley 3-pointer, but a quick 10-2 run by Dallas erased any remaining momentum.A Dorian Finney-Smith dagger 3-pointer to put Dallas up by 10 sent Jazz fans heading for the exits with two minutes left in the game; and that was all she wrote.

Thursday, 09:35 pm

The Mavericks' defense keeping them ahead

Just watch the defense from the Dallas Mavericks. pic.twitter.com/PeCRbQMnss

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 09:16 pm

Small-ball lineup gets Jazz back into game entering 4th

Down 17 at the midway point of the third quarter, Quin Snyder threw a wrinkle into the game.He put in Eric Paschall at center, going small for the first time in the series. It was the lifeline the Jazz needed.Utah outscored Dallas 25-14 to closeout the quarter to cut the Mavericks' lead to 97-91.Donovan Mitchell was 6 of 8 from the field in the quarter for 18 points, including two high-flying dunks that got what had been a very restless crowd into the game for the first time.Bojan Bogdanovic had 12 points in the quarter, and Paschall had 6 points in his limited minutes.The small lineup sparked a team that looked dead in the water. Spencer Dinwiddie had already posterized Rudy Gobert and blew by a flat-footed Mitchell as the boos rang down on the Jazz.So Snyder played the small-ball hand that hadn't been great in the regular season. But it was just what the Jazz needed to get back into the game.

Thursday, 09:06 pm

Here comes Donovan

DONOVAN MITCHELL ROCKING THE RIM 💥#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on NBA TV pic.twitter.com/2YcGJZdbaJ

— NBA (@NBA) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 08:44 pm

Spencer Dinwiddie goes up and over Rudy Gobert

COULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING TONIGHT pic.twitter.com/ha1k6D8ieb

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 08:31 pm

Jazz in a hole at the half

The dangerous Dallas duo of Jalen Brunson and Maxi Kleber continued its breakout in the first half of Game 3 in Salt Lake, combining for 28 points through two quarters. Brunson left with an apparent lower back injury in the second quarter, however, and his status for the second half is unknown.The Jazz gained some momentum and electrified the Vivint Arena crowd with a reverse alley-oop slam from Mike Conley to Rudy Gobert late in the second quarter, but the Dallas 3-point downpour continued to extinguish any sparks of hope for Utah. The Mavericks made 13 of 25 of their 3-point attempts in the first half, good for 52% from deep. Kleber led the way with four makes on five attempts, followed by Davis Bertans and Josh Green with three each.A 12-4 run at the end of the half helped Dallas to a 41-point second quarter and commanding 68-51 lead at the half.The Jazz were led by Jordan Clarkson, who had 12 points behind Brunson's game-high 15.

Thursday, 08:05 pm

Jalen Brunson heads to the locker room

Jalen Brunson hobbled off the court holding his lower back with 4:38 left to go in the second quarter. Originally, Brunson looked like he going to try to walk it off, and gingerly ran up the court for an offensive possession. But the pain was clearly too much and he was forced to take a foul to stop play. After the foul, he headed straight to the locker room (picking up a technical foul in the process).Why the technical? Because he had some words for the officials who missed a clear foul on Royce O'Neale that caused him to slam to the floor.

Here's the play. Not even a review. Cool, cool. pic.twitter.com/JmT62MTwuf

— Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) April 22, 2022Brunson had a game-high 15 points when he left the court.

Thursday, 07:56 pm

There's a first time for everything

Mike Conley picked up his first-ever flagrant foul in the second quarter of Game 3 when he stepped in Trey Burke's landing space after the Dallas guard attempted a 3-pointer.It was his first flagrant, but his technical foul-free career is still intact.

Mike Conley's perfect record as an NBA gentleman has been blemished. The flagrant foul he was called for on Trey Burke was the first of Conley's career, per @ESPNStatsInfo. Conley officially has zero career technicals (one rescinded).

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 07:41 pm

Kleber's shooting has Dallas up after the 1st quarter

A collective groan coursed throughout Vivint Arena.Maxi Kleber checked in and immediately hit a corner 3-pointer. The groans didn't stop there.The Dallas reserve center was back to his Game 2 tricks, going 3 for 3 from deep to lead the Mavericks to a 27-20 lead after the first quarter.Kleber played all of four minutes and scored 9 points in the opening frame. It wasn't all good for Kleber, though. He got caught on poster dunks by both Danuel House Jr. and Hassan Whiteside, but his shooting more than made up for it.Jalen Brunson also picked up where he left off in Game 2 and scored 8 early points for the Mavericks.A surprise for Dallas, though: Josh Green. The second-year forward, who Utah has allowed to take wide-open shots all series, buried two 3s in the quarter.Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 6 points — and hit a three-quarters court heave at the end of the quarter, but the clock had already expired.Donovan Mitchell had 3 points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Thursday, 07:32 pm

Jalen Brunson: still good

JB picking up where he left off pic.twitter.com/K7B5DiudQt

— x - Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 07:29 pm

Whiteside puts Kleber on a poster

HASSAN WHITESIDE ALL OVER KLEBER 😳 pic.twitter.com/q2sBcuNhku

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 07:24 pm

Rudy Gobert with an early slam

ᵇ ᵉ pass
ᵒ ᶜ
ᵘ ⁿ pic.twitter.com/rPKMVDnWNM

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 22, 2022

Thursday, 06:00 pm

Doncic's officially out, and Kidd wants some oxygen tanks

Dallas coach Jason Kidd made it official: Luka Doncic will not be playing in Game 3.Kidd said Doncic is progressing but that through the whole recovery process the Mavericks have chosen to be cautious, and holding him out for Thursday's game followed that same philosophy.Kidd said Doncic went hard during an afternoon session and so far feels fine. Even though he won't be playing, the Dallas superstar went through a warmup on the Vivint Arena court ahead of Game 3.Utah coach Quin Snyder said that Doncic's status has been an "undercurrent throughout the series," and lauded how Jalen Brunson has stepped in and handled the increased workload for the Mavericks. Brunson scored 41 points in Game 2.

We're about 80 minutes from tip pic.twitter.com/ftdwHUuCEH

— Ryan Miller (@millerjryan) April 21, 2022Kidd said Utah's pace of the game will likely be different from the first two games in Dallas, and he's expecting the Jazz to try and get more up-tempo 3-pointers. Utah has yet to hit a 3 early in the shot clock this series — something that's been a trademark of the Jazz's No. 1 offense. Kidd said the Mavs have "dodged some bullets" and said Utah's had good looks.Snyder said he wants to see his team run more in Game 3 in order to get more of those looks.And when it comes to running in the altitude of Salt Lake City, Kidd deadpanned that he sent a request to the league for some extra help.Kidd: "We asked to have some oxygen tanks on the side, and we asked for some extra timeouts."Reporter: "I'm sure that wasn't accommodated."Kidd: "Well, we're still waiting."

Thursday, 03:45 pm

Report: Luka Doncic ruled out of Game 3

Dallas star Luka Doncic has been ruled out for Game 3, according to an ESPN report.Doncic had been listed as questionable, and Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said that he would be a game-time decision after he went through a regular pre-game routine; however, Kidd hedged a bit on that timeline, saying a decision could come sooner. And it appears it has.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is out for Game 3 vs. Utah tonight, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/PhQ3KWWHPj

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 21, 2022Without Doncic, the Mavericks will once again rely on guard Jalen Brunson, who scored 41 points in Game 2, to lead the offense."Everybody's trying to act like Jalen having 41 is like the craziest thing," Donovan Mitchell said on Thursday. "He's a talented player. Like, obviously Luka's out; that's the storyline, but Jalen Brunson can go. So I want people to kind of put respect on him. Let's not act like he's a bad basketball player."Your star players out; levels rise," he continued. "He did a good job of that. There's things we can do to make it harder on him, make it tougher. We watched the film and see that we can make things tougher, but Jalen Brunson can go and I think people need to respect him in a little bit more in that regard because he's a talented player."

Thursday, 12:25 pm

'Wait till you see': Mitchell, House talk about 'mind-boggling' home playoff atmosphere

Donovan Mitchell has tried to warn all the newcomers to the team — Juancho Hernangomez, Jared Butler, Rudy Gay, Eric Paschall, etc. — about what they're going to be walking into Thursday night.He remembers his first games playing in front of the playoff-infused crowd at Vivint Arena during his rookie season against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He dribbled the ball at the top and tried to call a play; his teammates just gave him a blank stare."Everybody's standing there and had no idea what the hell I was saying," Mitchell said with a laugh.A homecourt disadvantage? Sometimes the fans can be too loud for even the home team.Five years later, the buzz of a playoff game at Vivint hasn't worn off for Mitchell. He's played playoff games in Houston, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Memphis, and Los Angeles — all the crowds are good, but he still thinks there's something special about playing in Salt Lake City."It's just loud, everything is loud," he said. "Like, you run out the tunnel for warm ups, it's loud; you make a lay-up, it's loud; a three, it's loud. You go to some arenas and they only get loud the last five minutes or a big shot. Here, everything is loud; every possession. A steal, it's loud; great defense, it's loud."I think that's the passion and the fire that you get when you play against our home crowd. I think we feed off of that," Mitchell continued. "It'll be my fifth time going in. I keep telling everybody that's new, 'Wait till you see — the home court advantage is different.' I don't know if the shape of the arena makes it loud; I don't know what it is. This is the loudest arena I've played in ... especially when it comes to the playoffs. It's one of those things that's just you have to see for yourself."Danuel House Jr., who has some experience with the Vivint Arena crowd as part of the Houston Rockets team that beat Utah 4-1 in the first round of the 2019 playoffs, is eager to feel it from the other side of things."The fans are intense. They bring energy. They bring noise. The energy here tonight, I anticipate it should be mind-boggling," House said. "… Because we still represent the state. We love the state. We all live here, so hey, we representing the state, so come out and support the state."

Thursday, 12:20 pm

Waiting game continues for Luka Doncic's status

The waiting game continues as the game nears to see if Dallas star Luka Doncic will be back in the lineup for Game 3.Mavericks coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the team's shootaround Thursday at Vivint Arena that Doncic will go through his regular pregame routine before a decision is made."We'll see how he feels at game time," Kidd said.Doncic suffered a left-calf strain on April 10 during Dallas' final regular-season game and missed the first two games of the series. He was upgraded to questionable on Wednesday ahead of Game 3. That usually means about a 50-50 chance of playing.

Luka Doncic's calf appears healthy enough to work on his soccer skills. pic.twitter.com/y5mz6oZplp

— Callie Caplan (@CallieCaplan) April 21, 2022Doncic made it clear on Wednesday that he won't play if there was any chance of re-injury."If there's going to be risk, I don't think I'm going to play," Doncic said. "But, like I said, today and yesterday, we did some good things. If it's not at risk, I don't want to play limited minutes. I'd be nervous. I want to be out there the most time as possible."A report from ESPN following shootaround said that there's still "significant pessimism" when it comes to Doncic's status for Game 3.

There's still significant pessimism on Luka Doncic's availability for Game 3 tonight, sources tell ESPN. He's eager to play, but it's trending unlikely as he recovers from that left calf strain. https://t.co/Qodn0Fuuyc