Luka Doncic almost got the best of Jazz in playoff debut — until he didn't

SALT LAKE CITY — Everything was going right for the Dallas Mavericks as they looked to storm out to a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series Saturday at Vivint Arena.

Luke Doncic was back where he belonged — namely, playing — to lead the Mavs with a game-high 30 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in his first contest of the 2022 postseason after a calf strain. Dallas also overcame the Jazz's best shot, overturning a 16-point first-half deficit with a dynamic 39-24 run through the third quarter.

Then, with one stroke of genius — or rather, one alley-oop from Donovan Mitchell to Rudy Gobert — it was all gone.

Mitchell poured in 23 points and seven assists, and Gobert added 17 points and 15 rebounds as the Jazz spoiled Doncic's return with a 100-99 victory over the Mavs, sending the series that once threatened a 3-1 deficit back to Dallas tied at two games apiece.

So where did the Mavericks go wrong? It wasn't when Doncic drained a stepback 3-pointer with 39.6 seconds on the clock to give Dallas a 99-95 lead, a lead he celebrated both for eclipsing the 30-point mark and for the two-possession advantage inside of 40 seconds.

Who knew that it would be the last points his team would score?

"I was just excited," said Doncic, who claimed no ill will or talk at anybody on the Jazz floor or courtside with the shot. "It's playoff basketball; you hit that shot and you're going to be excited.

"I missed basketball," he later added. "I'm just excited to be back; playing basketball is having fun. What can be better than playoff basketball? I'm just excited to be back."

Suddenly, a series that felt all-but finished for the Jazz has new life in it — and a healthy Slovenian superstar.

Doncic also added that he "felt good," but admitted to "still getting my wind back" after the three-game absence in the postseason. It didn't help when he was elbowed in the face by a stray elbow from Gobert, an errant blow from the French center that was reviewed by the officials and deemed a no-call.

Doncic will disagree, for obvious reasons. That's his right, but he didn't dispute the outcome.

"I think it should've been a technical foul," he said. "But they reviewed it, so I guess it's not a foul."

The Mavericks shot 42% from the field but just 34% from 3-point range in a change of pace from the previous two games. They also trailed the Jazz 26-18 at the free-throw line, giving up 42 foul shots and taking just 23 themselves.

Not fouling in Game 5 "will be a big one for us," said Jalen Brunson, the former "Jazz killer" who shot 7 of 18 from the field for 23 points, five rebounds and three assists.

"Most importantly, we can't hang our heads," Brunson added. "We actually are in a great position; Utah's in a great position. It's best-of-three now. We've got to go out there, play our style of basketball, play together, and that's basically what we've got to keep doing."

It might have been in the first half, when they shot just 5 of 24 from 3-point range en route to a 36-28 halftime deficit. It certainly wasn't in the third quarter, when they righted the ship and nailed 8-of-10 threes. That included back-to-back triples from Brunson and Dorian Finney-Smith to cap a 12-2 run with 2:54 left in the period.

Finney-Smith scored 11 points in the third quarter alone. In large part because of him, the Mavericks turned a 54-42 halftime deficit into an 81-78 edge heading into the fourth quarter.

"You're got to give them credit; they played well. During that first half, they were outplaying us — just playing harder than us," Brunson said. "Third quarter, we got our groove back, started playing more physical, our style of basketball."

Dallas held Mitchell to just one made field goal on seven attempts in the middle quarters to eke back into the game. But they couldn't keep him from passing on the final play, a lob to Gobert that set the roof off Vivint Arena with the deafening roar of 18,306 fans with 11 seconds left.

The Mavericks had one final shot at a game-winner, but Spencer Dinwiddie's 3-point buzzer-beater was well off the mark.

"We didn't really execute it well," Doncic said. "We should've gotten a better shot."

That sends the series back to the Big D, with a full complement of players in Mavericks blue and a new swagger of confidence in Jazz purple and gold. Doncic is back, Gobert is doing Gobert-like things, and the winner of a now-shortened best-of-three series will advance to the conference semifinals.

"I just think that we always focus on the next one," Brunson said. "We can't really dwell on any win or any loss. We have to focus on getting better the next day."

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