DALLAS — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 112-105 loss against the Dallas Mavericks from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Inexcusable mistakes cost Jazz game they had

Finishing out a game when you have a 21-point lead with 18 minutes left isn't necessarily easy, but it is something that should be pretty straightforward unless an opponent does something special.

I didn't think what the Mavs did after the 6:03 mark of the third quarter was that special. Sure, they raised their level. They forced the Jazz to switch, and then attacked those matchups, which got them to the free-throw line and to the rim with easy looks. But that being said, they also missed a lot of their shots: they finished 11-20 in the fourth quarter. That's good, but certainly not otherworldly. If the Jazz had stayed focused, I think it's a 10-point win in regulation.

But they didn't. Instead, 21 turnovers in the game meant that the 21-point lead was quickly erased. A quick timeline of the bad plays:

First, this putback dunk from a missed free-throw is a bad play for the Jazz to give up. It looks like Alec Burks was the last to move, though blame is hard to assign from this angle.

On replay, looks like I was wrong to blame this on Exum: pic.twitter.com/Tiiu2ajhYy — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 10, 2017

Shell-shocked, Exum loses focus and then doesn't pay attention, allowing Yogi Ferrell to steal the ball right there and get fouled.

Yogi Farrell steals from an unsuspecting Exum. pic.twitter.com/G3KjZKCGks — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 10, 2017

Fast forward to the end of the game. With 20 seconds left, Rudy Gobert fouls Dirk Nowitzki on the inbounds, sending Nowitzki to the line for a free throw. The Jazz were lucky that he missed it, but then Barnes scored so easily in the next two seconds to get the deficit to two. Maybe the biggest lasting impact here was that Gobert fouled out, and the Mavs had their way with the Jazz in overtime.

Gobert called for an inbounds foul. pic.twitter.com/CrGLI1JZxF — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 10, 2017

I thought the biggest mistake of the game was this one, though: Alec Burks dribbling carelessly in the backcourt with a two-point lead with 15 seconds left. Burks knows that the Mavs are going to try to strip the ball here, but Burks dribbles with two defenders around him and loses the ball out of bounds.

Burks turns the ball over late to give Mavs chance to tie. pic.twitter.com/QC0uKQttnQ — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) February 10, 2017

Exum has an excuse for being careless: he's young and inexperienced. This is Alec Burks' sixth season. He should know better about ball security here.

Then, the Jazz get kind of unlucky on an offensive rebound, the ball goes to an open Nowitzki, and he ties the game.

"We got up 20 points and we relaxed," Gobert explained. He blamed himself in the post-game for the foul that ended his game.

In overtime, the Jazz just didn't have enough good players. They played Boris Diaw 3½ minutes of overtime. Last time the Jazz had overtime in Dallas, they ran their offense through Diaw in the post a little bit, but tonight, that didn't work at all, and Diaw was very overmatched on the other end. He was mostly playing because Snyder ran out of players he trusts: Hill, Hood, and Gobert were all out, and Burks and Exum had just made critical bad plays.

2. The Jazz missed Hill

George Hill was a surprise scratch from the lineup tonight, sitting because of his sprained toe that he injured all the way back on Nov. 29. The toe injuries can really linger, and it had been impacting Hill's movement. The Jazz thought it was wise to give him some rest on the back to back.

Dante Exum got the start, and struggled. In 18 minutes, he scored five points on only three shots, but had four turnovers and the aforementioned fourth-quarter mistakes. Honestly, it's clear that Exum panicked somewhat once the lead dwindled quickly. I thought he did some nice things defensively in the game, though.

Shelvin Mack played 25 minutes, and did a better job of facilitation than Exum did, but went only 1-4 and fouled five times. He didn't have any turnovers, which is good, and did pick up seven assists and five rebounds, and two steals. I get why he got the majority of minutes at the PG spot, but also, he wasn't particularly impressive.

Hill had been coming off three games where he had 25, 22, and 19 points, so the Jazz missed his scoring, certainly. I also thought they missed his steadying presence on the court, avoiding turnovers like the ones that hurt them so much in the second half and overtime.

Quick storytime: Remember the Jazz's other really bad comeback loss this season, when they lost an 18-point lead to the Kings? Hill was inactive in that game too.

After that game, when the media came into the locker room, Hill was talking with Hayward about the importance of ending up with wins in games like that. Hill told Hayward that these were the kinds of losses that you regret at the end of the season, because one win or loss will probably make a difference in seeding. Hayward nodded and said he understood.

Hayward, who scored 20 points in the second half and overtime, nearly saved this one for the Jazz with his relative poise. He was great, even though he missed a potential game-winner. But with Hill on the floor, it's much more difficult to imagine the Jazz losing the 21-point lead, and maybe the Jazz's other players should take Hill's lessons as well.

3. Lob after lob after lob

The Jazz did play really well for long stretches of this game, and after acknowledging that they lost due to letting up, I think it's important that they find the good that happened earlier that was leading to success.

The most encouraging stuff came from early in the third quarter, when the Jazz opened up their lead to 21 points. Then, the Jazz were rolling, and had three consecutive lob plays: one from Gobert to Favors, one from Ingles to Hayward, and one from Gobert to Hayward.

Now we're talkin!! #BigToBig#UTAatDALpic.twitter.com/yy1qI5vLso — Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) February 10, 2017

> Hayward attempted oop from Ingles. [pic.twitter.com/D2K4A317do](https://t.co/D2K4A317do) > > — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) [February 10, 2017](https://twitter.com/andyblarsen/status/829932558347481093)

> And Hayward completed oop from Gobert. [pic.twitter.com/WwxbiTdUa7](https://t.co/WwxbiTdUa7) > > — Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) [February 10, 2017](https://twitter.com/andyblarsen/status/829932693739626496)

When the Jazz are getting those back cuts, it's really nice to see. It means they're generally moving off the ball for each other, cutting and screening to set up looks at the basket. We saw really encouraging stretches on this road trip, and while tonight's loss ruins the mood, the three games raised the level of the offensive potential of this team in my eyes. 

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