SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Donovan Mitchell hit a career-high seven three-pointers and scored 33 points to help the Utah Jazz beat the Dallas Mavericks 114-109 yesterday.
Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 points, Mike Conley had 15, Rudy Gobert finished with 14 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks, and Jordan Clarkson chipped in 13 points. Utah shot 40 of 74 from the field.
The Jazz did not crack under pressure and executed on both ends in the final minutes.
“When you narrow it down, we did what we were supposed to do,” Mitchell said.
Luka Doncic (AP pic below) had 23 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Dallas. Dwight Powell had a season-high 22 points, Spencer Dinwiddie added 20 points and Davis Bertans 17.
The teams combined to make 33 three-pointers.
Bogdanovic put the Jazz up 110-107 with a corner three with 1:28 left. Doncic missed three-pointers on back-to-back possessions in the final minute. Gobert’s layup with 11.1 seconds remaining sealed it.
“They were good shots, they just didn’t go in,” Doncic said.
Utah held Dallas to a single basket over the final 3:12. The Jazz got stops over four possessions, forcing six missed baskets and a turnover. It all started with Gobert blocking a go-ahead layup attempt by Doncic with 1:44 left.
“Gobert is such a good defender,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “When he’s switching, he’s as good as anybody standing in front of guards.”
The Jazz went 20-of-35 from the field in the first half. An inability to get consistent stops on defence offset Utah’s hot shooting before halftime. Dallas countred by making 10 three-pointers in the first half and shot 25-of-45 from the field overall.
The Mavericks led by as many as nine points before the break.
“Well, we got a special player and so we had a lot of great looks and we shot it extremely well there in the first half,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “In the second half, we got those same shots that just didn’t go down for us.”
Utah rallied after making six three-pointers in the third quarter and took an 88-84 lead after Danuel House Jr and Mitchell buried back-to-back threes to punctuate a 13-3 run.
After Clarkson hit a three-pointer to extend Utah’s advantage to 92-86 early in the fourth quarter, the Mavericks answered with a 10-0 run and took a 96-92 lead on back-to-back three-pointers from Bertans and Dinwiddie.
